


Second Chance

by Staubengel



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-17
Updated: 2014-12-10
Packaged: 2017-12-29 16:21:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 42
Words: 27,796
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1007511
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Staubengel/pseuds/Staubengel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tony Stark did not survive his last heoric deed. Seeing only one chance to get him back to life, the Avengers have to ask someone for help who was their enemy some moments ago.</p><p>Set at the end of "The Avengers"</p><p>I chose not to use the "Major Character Death" warning because of obvious reasons.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> My first attempt to write an IronFrost fanfiction!  
> Or an Avengers fanfiction.  
> Or any fanfiction in english...
> 
> So please be gentle with me when it comes to typos or grammar mistakes u_u  
> Just report them to me so I can improve and can correct them!
> 
> Other than that, have fun! :)
> 
> Thanks to my lovely Kourtney for betareading! <3
> 
> All the characters belong to Marvel and so on.

Tony fell as a stone. Above him the portal closed, shutting out the bright light and the thunder of the explosion.

”Son of a gun”, Steve said on the ground. Seconds later he frowned. Something was not right.

“He’s not slowing down”

Thor swung his hammer, but the Hulk was faster. He jumped up and caught the engineer, crashing back on the ground with him, protecting him with his enormous body. Tony didn’t feel anything of that. He also didn’t feel Thor ripping off his face plate or Steve staring at him in sorrow and pain. Even the insane roar of the Hulk he could not hear.

Tony Stark was dead.

 

~~~~~

 

They gathered around his corpse, looking down on him in shock. No. This couldn’t be. Tony Stark could not be dead. Not him.

”Stark?”, Steve asked. “Stark!”, he repeated as no answer came. And then he screamed: “Tony! Tony, wake up, goddamnit! WAKE UP!”

But Tony didn’t wake up. He would never wake up again.

Thor laid a hand on Steve’s shoulder.

”Is he okay?”, Natasha asked over their headphones. “What happened?” Nobody answered. And Natasha didn’t ask again.

The Hulk let out another loud roar and smashed his fists to the ground. Then he leaned over his dead friend and cautiously picked him up. He held him in his arms, wheezing, still not believing what he saw.

“How could we lose him”, Steve whispered. “How could we…”

Thor gripped his shoulder tighter. Then something seemed to flash his mind as he frowned. “He might not be lost yet”, he said. “There might be a way to return the Man of Iron to us.”

Steve and the Hulk looked at him startled.

“What?”, Clint asked in their ears. “How? The hospital might be a bit late now. I don’t even know if reanimation is possible with his reactor in-“

”I do not speak of earthly matters”, Thor interrupted him. “I speak of things beyond my own capability. Things only one person I know could perform.”

Silence followed after his words. The others exchanged some worried looks.

“You mean Loki”, Natasha finally stated.

Thor frowned a bit more, then nodded. “Yes”, he confirmed. “I speak of my brother.”

“Why would he help us”, Steve snapped. “He is the reason Tony is dead!”

Thor looked like a kicked dog on this. He glanced over to the dead body lying in the Hulk’s arms and some sort of guilt formed on his face.

Natasha was the one to answer. ”He might actually help us”, she said. “He’s not dumb. He loves to play with people and he loves a good deal. When we offer him something useful, maybe he will agree.”

“And maybe he won’t.” Steve grit his teeth. “Or maybe he will betray us. He’s no one for a fair play.”

“What have we to lose?”

Again they remained silent for a while.

“The far greater question is”, Clint finally contributed, “What have we to offer?”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we go! :)  
> Thanks for all the nice comments so far!  
> I hope I won't disappoint you in your expectations!
> 
> (Thanks to akuma_river for the vocabulary tip! :) )

Loki put one hand on the step and pulled himself up. He was bruised and battered and to top it off his plan had failed. The god was certainly not in a good mood. He stopped in his tracks as he felt several pairs of eyes on him. Slowly he turned around to see all of the Avengers standing there, staring at him in anger, hatred or – in Thor’s case – hurt. No, not all of them. The one he threw out of the window was missing. The interesting one. Where was he? Oh. There he was. Hanging in the arms of the green monster that had disgraced him. He looked rather dead. Maybe that was why they looked so furious.

“Ah, well”, Loki sighed, propping himself on his arm, “what a shame. I would have taken that drink now.”

Nobody answered. They just looked a bit more full of anger, hatred and fury. Then Thor spoke.

“Brother”, he said and Loki shot him an hateful glance. “We need your help.”

Loki raised his eyebrows. “My help?”, he repeated. Not long ago one of them had made a crater hitting Loki’s body into the floor of this tower and now they needed his _help_? His eyes drifted to the dead man and a smirk built on his face. “Oh”, he purred. “I see. You want your precious fellow back. And none of you holds knowing on how to achieve that.”

As all of the faces staring at him hardened, he couldn’t help but grin. He cocked his head. “Assuming I am willing to help you, what good would that be for me?” He looked at the soldier as he asked this, knowing he was the leader of these so called “Avengers”. And in his face the most pain was showing.

“You would be free of any punishment”, the man replied after a brief moment. “Here and on Asgard.”

Loki’s eyes narrowed. Was the man joking? He had to be. Never would they allow him to roam free after what he just had done. Especially not the Allfather. Then again all of this had already taken place, penalty wouldn’t change anything. The only thing that could be changed was the death of this man. And the people here on earth wouldn’t know of his punishment anyway, as Thor would surely take Loki with him to Asgard. Not to mention that sparing him penalty was the only thing the Avengers could promise. They hadn’t got anything else to offer.  
Even if it was a trap, maybe he could get himself out of the affair. They had to let him do whatever he wanted in pretends to save Tony Stark and it would be ever so easy to just slip away as soon as they got careless. Only that it _wasn’t_ that easy. He had Thanos breathing down his neck and he wouldn’t be safe anywhere, now that the plan had failed. Asgard was in fact the safest place to be. So he either could decline and let himself be arrested or he could bring this man back to life and have some more space. Both of this in Asgard’s protection.

That was one of the reasons to do it. The other one was: They needed him. They _needed_ him. It felt so good to be needed. So fulfilling. After all he had done they still needed him and only him because only he could do it. It was such great a triumph. And it also gave a warm sting to his heart. Which of course Loki didn’t allow himself to admit.

And the third reason was: He liked Tony Stark. Somehow. He had been the only one being brave enough to face him without his armour and he had shown a great amount of wit, intelligence and – admittedly – brashness. Unlike this stupid woman who had snuck up on him and talked him into a trap. That hadn’t been a trap actually, considering the fact he had already made some hints towards using the Hulk beforehand. Which bothered him even more about this wench. Of course the soldier had fought him too, but just in full armour, with a flying ship right behind him and in the end Stark had had to save him. No, this man had been the only one of them who had made an impression on the God of Mischief.

He let his gaze wander over all of their faces, all of their expressions. Maybe they planned to take him into custody after he brought the man in the flying armour back to them. Well, they miscalculated. They wouldn’t use Loki to achieve what they wanted. Loki would use them.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And chapter 3! :)  
> From now on I will try to update the fic every week!
> 
> And again: I'm not a native speaker, so if you find any mistakes, be it typing or grammar or just a wrong used phrase or vocabulary, please let me know so I can correct it.  
> Thank you!

“I require some items”, he said and sat up straight. “And I demand to perform it in Asgard.”

Steve nodded. Thor held his hand out to his brother, but Loki gave him a deathly look and managed to stand up on his own, even though it was not all that graceful. Thor once again tried to support him by laying a hand on his back, but the other shook it off with a scornful growl.

“What kind of items?”, Natasha wanted to know.

Clint was aiming an arrow at Loki, but the god didn’t seem to care at all.

“Beloved items of his”, he replied, holding his aching back with one hand. “Items with great value to him. Personal value, that is. Items he would either hold dear or despise for whatever meaning they had in his now over life.”

The redhead nodded. “I will get some things together. I think I can find some stuff.” And with that she was already gone, taking advantage of the time she had spent with the engineer as his assistant.

“And he needs to get out of this shell of his”, Loki continued, trying to look as if nothing had happened at all and he had not just been defeated by the people standing in front of him. “I need to have free access to his body.”

Both Steve and the Hulk puckered their brows on this.

“I guess that’s alright”, Hawkeye took part in the conversation. “He’s dead already anyway.”

“What if he tries to manipulate his body?”, Steve argued.

“I already made an attempt to do so. It was not possible due to the device in his chest.”

Steve looked startled. Clint laughed. “Well, lucky him. I still want to kick your fucking ass for that.”

Loki just smirked.

Steve found his words again. “How do we get him out of there? If we just rip the suit off we might hurt him.”

Loki closed his eyes and shook his head slightly. “A dead body is not capable of feeling any pain, _Captain._ Your friend is dead. You let him die and now he is completely numb. Ripping wounds in his inanimate body would not cause any damage as he will be healed. Do not act as noble when it was not you who sacrificed his life for this pitiful undertaking.”

His words didn’t miss their intention. Steve jerked towards Loki, his shield lifted for a stroke, but before he could hit, Thor intervened. “THAT’S ENOUGH!”, he shouted, standing between Steve and his brother. Lightning crackled around his hammer, yet he hadn’t raised it. His eyes were on Loki, but he turned now to speak to the Captain. “Stark won’t come alive again when you hurt Loki”, he said a bit calmer. “Do not let his words affect you. You did alright.”

Loki grinned as Steve shot him a dark glance. But he took down his shield. “Fine”, he snarled. “Let’s get him out of here before S.H.I.E.L.D. arrives and locks him up again.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Halloween! :)

They took the items Natasha had gathered and a few tools with them. Thor took first Tony and then Loki away to a place they had agreed on and the others followed as soon as they could. Director Fury was mad about the sudden disappearance of Loki and when he asked where Thor and Tony had gone, all he got for an answer was: “They’re safe.”

The Hulk had transformed into Bruce again and he was driving them in a car Natasha had organised. It wasn’t from S.H.I.E.L.D. because they didn’t want to be tracked and they were very cautious not to leave any hints for them behind. Natasha and Clint being familiar with the organisation helped a lot. When they arrived, Tony was lying on the ground on his back while Loki was sitting a few metres away, carefully watched by Thor. A faint smirk played about his lips as the other Avengers left the car and joined them. Natasha cast something at him and he caught it. He studied it, then nodded.

“Now get him out of his armour so we can finally leave.”

That was Bruce’s task. He knelt beside Tony, almost carefully as if he could hurt him with a wrong movement already. He had brought some screwdrivers, nippers and a sharp metal cutter and began to undo Tony’s armour with it. He was very calm doing this, his hands moved with accuracy and caution. Nobody made a sound.

It took him over an hour to finish and when he finally was done, the suit lay in several pieces all around Tony’s corpse. He looked so vulnerable without it, some bruises and cuts covered his face together with dried blood. The Arc Reactor in his chest had stopped glowing.

“I’m done.” Bruce voice sounded loud in the long silence that had fallen upon them, yet it was barely more than a whisper. Losing Tony had clearly hit him, they had found a special connection during the past few days. Steve laid a hand on his shoulder and Bruce smiled sadly.

“Fine, then”, Loki said almost cheerfully and got off the ground. “Let’s go then, shall we.”

He glanced over to Thor who gave a small nod and went over to Bruce and Steve. He stopped behind them, looking down on the dead body for a moment as if to grant them one last goodbye. “I must take him now”, he then stated. It sounded like an apology. “I promise I will take good care of him. The next time you see him, he will be alive and well again. You have my word.”*

Bruce nodded. Steve only frowned, but didn’t answer back. His frown deepened when Thor laid his red cape over Tony and carefully wrapped him in it like a fallen warrior. The god then picked him up and held him against his chest protectively. Loki strutted over with the items Natasha had given him and stood opposite of them. Clint handed them the Tesseract.

“You don’t bring him back”, he said, addressing Loki, “and we will hunt you down and torture you to death.”

Loki grinned, knowing this was only an empty threat made out of helplessness. He took one handle of the container they had put the Tesseract in and waited for Thor to take the second one. Before Thor did, he once more shared a look with his new friends, trying to comfort them with the promise he had made. Natasha made a small gesture with her head and Thor took it to move the handle and activate the Tesseract. A stream of blue light flashed down on them and a second later all three of them had vanished. The others followed with their eyes as the blue shot up in the sky and the hope that what Thor had said would be true hung silently between them.

____________________________________  
* That's Thor who says this. There has been some misunderstanding. I'm very sorry!


	5. Chapter 5

Loki had allowed Heimdall to lay his eyes upon them during the last hours on earth. He had made sure the Gatekeeper had seen and heard what the Avengers and the God of Mischief had agreed on so there wouldn’t be further explanations needed once they arrived in Asgard. There weren’t. 20 guards were already waiting for them, armed to teeth and they surrounded them as soon as they had completely materialised.

“Isn’t that a warm welcome”, Loki hummed. “It’s good to be home.”

“Let go of the Tesseract”, one of the guards demanded. “Immediately.”

Loki let go and held his hands in the air.

Thor handed the Tesseract in its container to one of the armed men.

“Where is father?”, he asked. “I need to talk to him.”

“The King is in the throne room. He demands to see you both.”

“No”, Loki declined. “We do not have time for that. I need to revive the mortal as soon as possible. It gets harder with any minute that passes. It already took far too long to undo his armour and bring him here. And I doubt that the Allfather will make it short.”

Thor looked at him as if to examine whether he said the truth or was already lying again. Loki was not lying. Not completely. The soul needed to be as fresh as possible, but another hour wouldn’t be that much of a problem. He just didn’t want to talk to Odin. Not right now. He _did_ want to talk to Odin and spit his actions right in this old ugly face of his, but he would get too emotionally agitated over this and to bring the Midgardian back to life, he needed his full concentration.

“I will let the guards accompany you”, Thor finally said. “They shall survey you whilst-“

”No. I cannot allow anyone to be present during the ritual.”

Thor’s eyes narrowed. “I cannot allow _you_ to be on your own after all you did.”

Loki noticed the faint crackling coming from Mjolnir, but didn’t let his eyes off his brother’s. Finally he gave in: “Mother is the only one I can permit to observe me. She knows which actions are needed for the ritual and she can intervene as soon as she notices me differing from what is necessary.”

It took Thor a while to think this through, but then he nodded. “Fine”, he grumbled. “I’ll let the guards take you to your chambers.”

“How very generous of you.”

The guards took Loki between them and walked off towards the palace. Two of them stood behind with a stretcher and waited until Thor had placed the dead body onto it. Then they followed their fallen prince to the palace and escorted him into his room.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know my chapters are pretty short :\  
> And I also know this is very difficult to read.  
> But I'm a very slow writer and there are so many other things to do (drawing stuff for tumblr, doing presentation or homework for university, etc).  
> So if they are too short for you, maybe wait for 2 weeks and then read 2 chapters in a row?  
> Or I will make the chapters longer, but only upload one every two weeks.  
> I'm trying to work faster, but I really can't X(

The first thing Frigga did when she arrived was taking Loki into her arms and pressing him against her trembling body. Loki – knowing the guards were still watching – tried to stay as calm and cool as possible. But as soon as Frigga’s body hid his face from them, he closed his eyes.

Frigga must have given them a sign because they left soon after and Loki finally laid his hands on his mother’s sides.

“Loki”, she whispered, her hand stroking his hair.

“Don’t say anymore, mother”, he murmured. “I am sorry I did cause you that harm.”

She planted a kiss on his head and let go of him. She knew Loki didn’t want to talk about this with her and she wouldn’t push him. She knew he would come to her sooner or later and she would wait for him to do so. It had always been like that.

“What do you want to do now?”, she asked.

Loki glanced over to the dead body the guards had placed on his bed right next to him at his disposition. “I will revive him”, he replied. “He has friends on Midgard I need to be in my debt. Including your other son.”

 

~~~~~ 

 

They unwrapped the corpse out of Thor’s cape and got rid of his shirt. Frigga painted runes over his heart while Loki had a closer look at the items Natasha had given him.  
The first one was a mere screwdriver but it had the initials “H.S.” engraved and it looked so battered that there was no question it was in use for decades now. After everything Barton had told him, Loki assumed that Stark had inherited it from his father, maybe the first tool he had ever gotten from him and had used it ever since or had at least cherished it. A lot of memories and emotions, especially concerning his father. That was good.  
The second one was a little glass viol with shrapnels in it. Loki didn’t know what that item was supposed to mean. Barton had not mentioned the Arc Reactor or how it had came to that, hence Loki’s confusion when he had tried to influence Stark with his sceptre. But when Romanoff said it was important to Iron Man, then Loki would have to believe it.  
The third and last item was a silver pendant with a name engraved. It read “Maria”. Loki was not sure if she had been his mother, grandmother or wife, but if he kept it, she must have been someone beloved. The pendant had marks and scratches as if it had experienced something very violent. Hadn’t Barton said something about a car accident? That would be just perfect.

He waited until his mother had finished her doings and withdrew. They exchanged a look and Loki took over. Now it was his turn.

He laid a hand on Stark’s chest and held the three items in the other. Then he closed his eyes. It took him a while to concentrate enough to feel the items’ aura. Or rather the aura of what Stark had left on them. He felt grief, sorrow, sadness, concern. Joy, excitement, happiness, fulfilment. Everything. No, not everything. He did not feel- … Loki shuddered softly.

He focused on the emotions again and allowed them to flood his body. Not his heart, his soul or his mind, but his arms, hands and fingertips. He collected them inside of him until he was sure he had them all gathered there, right in the middle of his left palm. He allowed them to grow, to become stronger and more powerful and just when they were about to overwhelm him, he let them burst out into Anthony’s chest.

The body that had been dead seconds ago suddenly jumped and arched his back off the bed with a loud gasp. His eyes flew open and he gasped again, the reactor in his chest flashed with blue light and made a little humming sound. Then he fell back to the bed and stared at the ceiling in complete confusion. Anthony Stark was back from the dead.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope I did right with the tenses here...
> 
> Next chapter will be longer! :)

When Loki came back, Tony was still asleep. He had stammered something incomprehensible until his eyes had fallen shut and his body had claimed some time to recover. This had been 4 hours ago.

Loki had washed and dressed himself in the meantime, putting some ointment on the scratches on his face. Then he had pestled some healing stones to mix them with the salve and put them on Tony’s battered body. Normally he would have let a servant do this for him, but he didn’t want anyone besides his mother to come into his chambers. It also wouldn’t go amiss to collect as many good deeds as possible on his ledger.

He had known that it was only due to his mother that nobody had come to take the injured man away or to lead Loki out of his range. It was his chance to show some good will and help the man recover. Also for his ledger.

Not long after the ritual the Allfather had finally ordered him. Thor himself, accompanied by some guards, had come to pick him up. Loki had known he couldn’t avoid this conversation forever. So he had followed the Thunderer to the throne room where Odin had been waiting for them. And then he had had to face what had been to be faced.

It had been a difficult dialogue. Most of it had been shouted, hissed or growled. None of them had even tried to understand the other’s point. Odin had shouted accusations and incriminations, Loki had yelled them back like a mirror. At some point it hadn’t even been about New York anymore. Just about Loki and Odin and all of the lies and misunderstandings.

New York had been an act of revenge somehow. To show Odin what he had done. To show him and Thor that Loki could achieve something on his own. To show _himself_ that he could achieve something on his own. That he did not depend on Thor and Odin to be something.  
But there had also been Thanos and the Tessaract. And Loki couldn’t help but feel that he had not been 100% in control of everything. That his plan – to rule the world – had in fact been part of something much bigger and that some strings had been pulled to make sure this “bigger” would work out just like it should.

But that was not what he had told Odin. He had just snarled at him some more until the Allfather hadn’t replied anymore. Then it had been silent for a few moments before the Allfather had said that the agreement between Loki and the Avengers was not of his doing and he had not to act upon it. It was only because of Thor that he would spare Loki the dungeon. But he could not spare him any punishment at all, since Asgard would demand penalty for Loki’s actions and to save one life was hardly enough for the dozens he had taken. He would allow Loki to stay free, but he would bind his magic and powers so Loki would be nothing more than an immortal human. Until he had proven himself worthy again, just as Thor had done. Loki had said that it was only due to his magic the mortal was back to life again and to this Odin had only nodded and said: “I know.”

So when Loki came back to his chambers he was more than enraged. He had reckoned that Odin would punish him, but not with this. Without his magic he was nothing. All of his plans to make up for what he did by saving the human had been destroyed. It hadn’t been enough. He should have escaped earlier. The curse he had put on Stark would have been enough to solve his Thanos-problem. He wouldn’t have needed the protection of Asgard anymore. But now it was too late. His magic was gone.

Gnashing his teeth he sunk onto the edge of the bed and stared out of the window. He sat there for at least an hour. Deeply lost in thought he didn’t notice when Tony Stark opened his eyes again and blinked repeatedly in confusion.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Thanks Giving to all of you who celebrate it! :)
> 
> One of my favourite chapters so far <3

That was not his room. That wasn’t _any_ room he knew. It was bright and shimmering and golden and off-white and green and just… Where the heck was he? He felt like he had been overrun by a truck. No, something bigger than a truck. A spaceship or something. … Wait... Spaceship. Aliens. New York!

In sudden panic he tried to prop up, but his arm simply gave away and he fell back with a curse. What he saw next even increased his panic. It was Loki.

“I see you are awake”, he said before Tony could open his mouth. “Pity. I was just about to murder you in your sleep.”

Tony blinked again. He was joking, right? He got to be. But instead of asking him this he just mumbled: “Where am I?”

“Back among the living again, as it seems”, the god answered.

It took Tony a moment to realise what that meant. “So… So I was dead?!”

“Satisfactorily.”

“… Thanks. I did my very best.” He tried to prop up on his elbows again and this time he succeeded. But his arms were shaking as if they weren’t strong enough to support his weight.

“So did I”, Loki replied.

“… Don’t tell me you-“

“I did. I had to. Your fellows were rather obtrusive.”

Tony stared at him in bewilderment. “You mean they-“

“Yes.”

“And that you-“

“Yes.”

“… Fuck.”

“I expected more delight from you.”

“Delight? Are you kidding me? What did they do to get you to revive me? Give you my firstborn? Because just for the record, I didn’t intend to have kids and I would never-“

“No, not such meagre offering. What would I need your bantling for?”

“I don’t know. Some voodoo stuff? No, but honestly, what did they give to you?”

“That is not of your concern.”

“Not of my concern?! Of course it is of my concern! You revived _me_! I’m in the debt of a psychopath now!”

“In fact you’re not.” Loki took a carafe from the bed table and poured some water into a cup. “You did not wish for your revival. You did not ask me for it. There is nothing unsettled between us.” He handed Tony the cup. Tony eyeballed it suspiciously.   
“I will not poison you”, Loki said with the corner of his mouth twitching up.

“Of course not”, Tony grunted. “Who would have ever thought of that.”

“The only unsettled debt between us is you offering me a drink. Now let me return that favour.”

Tony was still not convinced. But his mouth was dry as the desert and his throat as raspy as sandpaper. So he took the cup from the god and poured the water down in one gulp. He was still alive afterwards.

“Would you mind telling me now what happened to the others?”, he asked then, passing the cup back. Loki refilled it.

“They are all in good health, I have to admit. You were the only one pathetic enough to die.” He handed the cup to Tony again who this time only took a sip from it.

“Well”, he replied, “I was always the special one.”

“I know.”

Tony raised his brows.

“I know everything about you now”, Loki asserted. “Now that I revived you I have seen your deepest sorrows. Your darkest secrets. Your best hidden emotions and sentiments. Everything of you I now know.”

“Oh, is that so? Then tell me what I felt at seven when the milk-incident happened.”

“I know that you felt eager at the age of seven”, Loki replied. “Eager to prove to your father you could do even better than you had until then. That you really were worth his attention. You still had hope that he would love you one day back then.”

Tony gazed at him for a moment. Then he grimaced. “Wrong. I felt embarrassed”, he corrected and took another sip of his drink. “In fact I did spill the milk all over my pants and I –“

“Don’t try this at me, Stark”, Loki interrupted. “I do know I was right about this.”

Tony just wrinkled his nose as he often did.

“I also know about this now”, Loki continued, pointing at the engineer’s chest. “That device did save you from the sceptre.”

“It did, yeah. But everyone knows about this. So you could have heard it from anyone, really.”

“Do I?” Loki smirked. “What about the fact that you kept the little pieces of metal in a glass viol a man named Yinsen endowed you with? The fact that they tortured you?”

Tony’s face suddenly hardened.

“You never told anyone about the torture, did you”, Loki whispered. “No one. It still haunts you in your sleep.”

Tony’s expression darkened. His eyes began to glisten.

“How they pushed you under water”, Loki went on. “How you longed for air. The relief when they finally let you gasp for it.” He enjoyed the painful look on the other man’s face. He had definitely hit a nerve.

Suddenly the mortal turned towards him and looked him straight in the eye. “So what about you”, he wanted to know. “What is your story, Mr. Know-It-All?”

Loki was baffled for a second. Then he pulled himself together again and straightened his back. “What do you mean by this”, he snapped. “There is nothing for you to know about me.”

“I think there actually is plenty to know about you, Secretive.”

“Is there? And why should I tell _you_ of all people?”

“Well”, Tony said, still looking him in the eye, “I guess because I’m the only one who ever asked.”


	9. Chapter 9

Loki was as stiff as a poker. He didn’t even blink. He just stared.

The mortal had asked him something. Something about him. His story. Nobody had ever asked him that. Nobody, none of the “heroes” who had tried to save the world from him had even bothered asking why he had tried to conquer it. They had just fought against him. Without questioning. Not even Thor had asked. He had just assumed. Stark was right. Nobody had ever asked him why.

He swallowed hard. Suddenly he felt vulnerable.

Why had Stark asked this? To get some background information he could use against Loki? That was the only reasonable explanation. But Loki was already defeated, he was of no danger to Midgard anymore.

Did he want to reciprocate for being revived? No. That question hadn’t been asked out of diplomacy. Loki could read it in the human’s eyes. It was curiosity. No, more than that. It was concern. He didn’t just try to change the subject so Loki wouldn’t go on about the torture and what had happened to Tony anymore. He really wanted to _know_. He wanted to _understand_. Because he got that Loki had had reasons. Which was more than the others had even considered.

Loki swallowed again.

“I am a Frostgiant”, he finally said. It sounded almost provoking, testing how the other would react.

Tony’s expression didn’t change at all. But he didn’t answer either. Which confused Loki. He had anticipated a snarky remark coming from Iron Man. The fact that there wasn’t any made it even worse. It meant that Stark was serious about it.

“I am the son of their king”, he made another check. “In your world it would maybe be equivalent to being the man-child of Hitler.” Still no reaction. Stark just looked at him, waiting for more. As if being the son of the archenemy wasn’t explanation enough.

And so Loki’s hesitations fell. They got swept away by the relief of not being shushed, not being second, not being asked to remain quiet, not being ridiculed. The excitement of being of interest, of being actually listened to, of just being able to tell. And he told. Everything.

At first he was still cautious, watching Tony’s every blink. But when no reaction came, no matter what he said, he grew more and more confident and before he even realised he had told Tony more than he had intended to. But it felt good. It felt liberating and somehow comforting and he didn’t stop until he noticed how his counterpart fought with his consciousness. Hours must have passed by now and the mortal hadn’t eaten anything. His body was still recovering and he needed some sleep. So Loki stopped talking and took the glass away from Stark, putting it onto the bed table.

“Do not dare spilling this over my sheets”, he warned. “Lay back and close your eyes, I don’t see any point in talking to you any longer.”

He knew that the other wouldn’t take his words as harsh as they sounded and they both knew they also weren’t meant like that.

Before Tony actually closed his eyes like he was told, he looked at the god again and said: “Know what?”

“What?”

“You didn’t lose for what you are or what you’re not. You lost for what you made of it.”


	10. Chapter 10

This time Tony slept for only 2 hours. When he woke up, a plate full of food was standing next to the bed on a small table. Without thinking twice he sat up and grabbed what he could get. The first thing he bit into was an apple. It was followed by some sweet bread, a bit of meat and some fresh water. While eating he thought about his situation. His conclusion was that it was damn weird. He was actually lying in the bed of the guy who had tried to take over earth and whose actions had sort of killed him. And he was almost naked. Dang. That was _really_ weird!

Loki wasn’t there, but that didn’t make the situation any less absurd. As soon as he was finished eating he dressed in the clothes that lay at the end of the bed and then carefully got out of it. His knees were a bit shaky and he felt quite weak, but he made it to the huge mirror at the wall to look at himself. He looked terrible. Pale and tired, kind of ill. The clothes were too large and only made him look more haggard than he actually was. Well. Nothing he could do about it. So why bother? At least he was still alive. Or alive again. Whatever.

He left the room and just headed somewhere. Maybe he could find Thor and ask him what had happened. But he didn’t find Thor. He found some guards and some attendants and after he had wandered around for about 10 minutes, he found the one he was _not_ looking for. Loki.

The god was standing on a balcony, staring at his hand absentmindedly. He made his fingers jerk and then his expression changed to agony and anger. He mumbled something that Tony could not hear and then clenched his fist. Obviously he was furious because he had been wanting something to happen. Tony was not quite sure what. But the expression on Loki’s face reminded him of his own when something he had built or puzzled out was not working as it should. Actually a lot of Loki’s behaviour reminded him of himself. Which was also really weird.

“There you are”, he heard himself say before he even realised. Loki’s head spun around. He still looked angry, but his expression relaxed after a moment.

“You searched for me?”, he asked, dropping his hand.

“Well, yeah. Sure. You’re kind of my host, aren’t you? Or rather my babysitter, maybe.”

“Am I?”

“I thought so. After all, you know my soul and all. And I kinda know yours. And I slept in your bed. Wait! We’re not married now, are we?!”

“Hardly. But arrangements can be made, if you desire.”

“Really? Wow. Have to think about that. What would that make me? Asgard’s prince in-law?” He strolled over to the raven haired man, peering over the balcony’s balustrade. A garden lay beneath it, covered in the last red and golden light of the late evening. Beautiful, but strange. Clearly not something he knew from earth.

“No”, Loki replied, following Tony’s gaze. “I think I have been deprived of that title.”

“Oh. Prince of Yodelhein, then?”

“Jotunheim. And no. I have never been a prince there.”

“Ah, damn it.” Tony laid a hand on the balustrade. “You will have to come with me, then. After all I’m the richest guy in the world. I think you could call yourself prince there. Prince Loki of Stark or something.”

“… Is that a proposal?”

“Eh, no, not yet. Let’s have dinner first.”

“.. So I was right.”

“About what?”

“That woman you’re with. You do not love her.”

Tony froze for a moment. Those words hit him hard in the chest. The stomach. They hurt.

“Why would you-“

“It is true, isn’t it? I felt it. When I brought you back to life I gathered all your sentiments from those little items of your possession. Any emotion one can think of was present. Even some that other people never experienced. But one was missing. Missing desperately.”

Tony swallowed hard. No. Loki was wrong. That wasn’t true. He loved Pepper. He-

“You do not truly love her”, the god stated again. “Not in the way you pretend to do.”

Tony’s hands clenched around the balustrade. He knew it was true. He had felt it himself. Too often. He loved Pepper. He really did. But not in a way that would establish a relationship.

“That is none of your business”, he managed to force out between gritted teeth.

“Is it not? And who else do you have to talk about this?”

Tony’s mouth shot open but then he hesitated. It was the exact same situation like some hours before. But this time Loki was the one asking and he was the one who had no other to talk to. It made his heart sting.

“Pepper is the closest to real love I ever had”, he murmured after a while. “And the closest to real love I will ever get.”

“Ah, what a pity”, Loki sighed. “Seems our marriage will be one of convenience rather than love, then.”

Tony couldn’t help but smile a little. Loki’s wit was a relief. Somehow his reaction was close to what Tony himself would have said and that was comforting. He relaxed his hand. “So… don’t you want to show me my new home?”, he asked. “Even though I won’t be prince here?”

It was the best idea he could come up with right now. Distraction. Blocking the burning pain out. Plus he really wanted to see Asgard. And surprisingly he wanted to see it with Loki’s eyes rather than any other’s.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy holidays, my loves! :)

Tony had overextended himself. His body was still too weak to walk long distances and he soon got tired and even a bit dizzy. But he tried his best not to let Loki notice it. Though he was sure that Loki _did_ notice. But he didn’t say anything and Tony was thankful for that.

It was strange how well they understood each other without even talking. Tony had known Loki’s plan to use the Stark Tower because he had understood Loki’s way of thinking. Even without having heard Loki’s tale he had known the god well enough. They were just too much alike. And they both knew.

They hadn’t gotten far until they actually ran into Thor. Loki’s face immediately hardened and Tony probably did him a favour by asking Thor if they could have a little talk alone. At least Loki rushed off.

They sat on a bench in the little garden Tony had seen from the balcony. He didn’t say so, but it was good to sit down. He still felt weak.

“So, what exactly happened now?”, he wanted to know, fiddling with his belt. He felt uncomfortable in these clothes. “Especially to my own clothing. Not that this stuff wouldn’t look dashing on you, but… I think it doesn’t emphasise my skin tone in the right way.”

Thor smiled. “Your clothes, my friend, were mostly damaged. You will have to do with what we have here, I’m afraid.”

“Ah, well. Everything looks great on me.”

Thor’s smile widened. Then he became serious again. “As for what happened: You died when you saved us all from that missile.”

“Yeah, I thought as much.”

“We could not think of any other possibility to get you back, except for asking my brother for help. In exchange for his freedom.”

“That’s why he’s not in chains yet, I assume.”

“Yes.”

“Hm.”

Thor turned his head. “I hope you do not resent us for that, Anthony.”

“I don’t. It’s actually great to be alive. And, to be honest, I don’t think it would be a great idea to lock this scallawag up.”

Thor frowned. “Loki deserves punishment”, he said slowly, as if it needed to be explained to Tony properly.

“He may deserve it”, he replied, “but it wouldn’t change anything. He wouldn’t stay in there for long. And when he would get out, he would be even more dangerous.”

“There is no way he could escape Asgard’s dungeons.” The god almost sounded offended. Seeing the mighty Thunderer like that was almost a bit too funny not to laugh.

“Maybe not alone. But he’s not dumb. In fact he’s very intelligent. And very strong. Who says he wouldn’t find a way out of there? Oh, wait, I do!”

Thor frowned again. He wanted to say something but Tony continued: “He does deserve punishment, but what he needs is help.”

Thor snorted. “I tried to help him”, he snarled. “But look where it lead to.”

“You can’t help him here. You’re in too deep. You’re part of his problem. He needs someone else.”

“I think I know Loki well enough to-“

“But that’s the point. You don’t know Loki. Not anymore. You have expert knowledge on him, but you don’t _get_ him. This is not like the old times anymore. Loki has changed.”

The way Thor looked at him now almost felt menacing. As if he had gone too far. The blonde was very sensitive when it came to that topic.

“Has Loki talked to you about this?”, Thor finally asked.

“We had a little chat, yes. And I think I get him. We have very much in common, he and I.”

Thor’s expression got even darker. It took him a while to answer and when he did, his voice was heavy and almost threatening.

“Do not take Loki easy. He is a trickster. And a liar. He fools around with people. Everything he says and does could be nothing more than a game. I had to learn it the hard way but it is true, believe me. The Allfather might have taken away his magic, but that does not make him any less dangerous. If you intend on keeping to interact with him, be careful.”

Tony nodded, but he didn’t even hear the end of the sentence anymore. He was too focused on another thing Thor had said. When he got up to leave, saying something else to the prince, he didn’t even realise what it was and when he headed for Loki’s room he was still thinking about that one line: The Allfather had taken away his magic.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Merry (belated) Christmas to all of you! :)

Loki sat in his room again. He didn’t know anywhere else to go. It felt wrong to be here, so wrong. He should have declined the Avenger’s request. It would have been better to be locked away for eternity than to roam free without his magic. For him this was real punishment.

His only consolation was the curse he had put on Stark as soon as his mother had been away. Foolish Thor. Had he really thought he could only harm his friend during the ritual itself? He was so much stronger than that. He had been… Now he was just weak and useless.

He sighed and buried his face in his hands. To deem himself worthy… The Allfather knew he couldn’t do this!

When he heard the door opening he quickly raised his head and lowered his arms. It was Stark. Again.

“What do you want”, he snarled. Now that he had seen Stark and Thor together he had been reminded again on which side the engineer really stood. And it was not Loki’s.

“Sleep, actually”, Stark replied. “I didn’t even know you were here.”

Loki snorted. “I shall go then”, he said. “It seems not even my room is for me to own anymore.”

He was about to get up, but Tony shook his head. “No, no, stay. I can sleep later.”

He came over to the bed and sat beside Loki. The god observed him almost hostilely.

“Didn’t you want to show me Asgard?”, Stark asked, sounding annoyingly friendly. Loki grit his teeth.

“I would have, but you seemed to like my brother’s company better than mine”, he snapped.

“Thor is rather charming compared to your moodiness”, Tony admitted, “but he’s not the one I asked to show me around. I only wanted to know what had happened after my death.”

Loki remained silent, still huffy.

“He told me Bruce had to cut off my armour”, the other man continued.* “It’s a shame, really. I have to build a new one now. Not that I don’t like building them. Quite the contrary, I love building them, in fact. It’s my own little world, you know. When I built something I can be myself. “

Loki raised one eyebrow. Did the mortal try to chat with him now? About stupid things like that?

But Tony wasn’t finished yet. “When I build something I feel proud of myself. Superior. I’m able to do something no one else could ever do. It’s what defines me. Being able to invent and build.”

The god’s eyes narrowed. He started to see where this lead to. And he was not very fond of it.

Stark must have noticed the look in his eyes because he stopped beating around the bush and got straight to the point. “Just like it must be for you with your magic.”

Loki had to prevent himself from punching the man in the face.

“Who told you”, he hissed. “Who told you about that! Was it Thor? Did he tell you I was stripped of my magic?”

“Well, he kind of mentioned that-“

“And why is it of interest to you! Why?!” Loki got up. He was almost shouting by now, his face twisted in rage and pain. “To mock me?! Is it fun for you to see your enemy suffer like this?! Is it satisfactory?! Are you glad now that I was thoroughly punished?!”

Tony looked him straight in the eyes without even blinking for a few seconds.

“No”, he then said. “I am honestly sorry for you.”

Loki opened his mouth to spit another insult in his face, but Tony was faster in adding: “I thought you knew everything about me, including my feelings. If someone took away my ability to build my own inventions, what would you think I’d feel?”

The raven haired man stared at the other with his jaw clenched. He had seen and felt the engineer’s love for his work. He knew what he would feel.

“What are you trying here, Stark”, he whispered coldly. “Why are you attempting to befriend me. I am your foe. We will never be allies.”

“I’m not trying anything. I don’t need to. You already trusted me enough to tell me everything. What more could I even try to achieve?”

Loki glared at him for a few minutes without blinking once. Then he turned on his heels and rushed out of the room.

Tony sighed and sank onto his back. He meant to think about all this but he couldn’t. He was asleep as soon as he closed his eyes.

 

 

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

* Thor actually didn't tell Tony that, but Tony is a smart boy. He knows he died in his armour and that Bruce is the only one who could have undone it.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next week I won't be able to post a new chapter on Thursday.  
> You'll get it on Friday instead!  
> But it'll be worth the wait ;)

Loki didn’t know where to go. His room was occupied and everywhere else he ran the risk of bumping into Thor. Or Thor’s stupid friends. Or even Odin. He could have gone to the library, but he wouldn’t be able to concentrate on reading. So he went to the only place he could think of that would be safe.

When he entered her chambers, Frigga looked up from the book she was reading and smiled at him. Loki immediately felt his heart warm a little. His mother’s smile always did this to him.

He sat beside her and she put her book away. “What brings you here, my dear?”, she asked, still smiling.

Suddenly Loki felt very tired. “I didn’t know where else to go”, he replied.

Frigga’s smile widened. “I am glad you came to me, then”, she said, taking Loki’s hands into her own. They felt warm and familiar. Loki’s tiredness increased.

“I had to”, he muttered. “My room is taken by a pertly mortal.”

Frigga laughed and softly squeezed his hands. “How is he?”

“Far too well. He is already bragging again.”

“But not well enough to send him back to Midgard, I assume.”

“No. It will take at least two more days for him to recover.”

“Do you want to sleep here when your bed is taken?”

Loki thought about it but shook his head. It was too dangerous to stay here. Thor or the Allfather might visit this place.

“Did you sleep at all since you came back?”

Again Loki shook his head. Frigga gave a little sigh and squeezed his hands tighter. She didn’t ask what was bothering him. She probably knew.

“Do you want the mortal to rest somewhere else, then?”, she wanted to know.

“I-“ Loki stopped himself and thought. He had been pretty sure he wanted Tony to be somewhere else. But then again that could increase the danger of someone finding out about the curse. And it could also lead to him teaming up with Thor again. And as much as it preyed on his mind to admit it: He didn’t want to lose the sympathy Tony seemed to feel for him. His words were enraging, even hurting him sometimes, but he did not want to let it go. It was the only true commitment he got.

“No”, he finally said slowly. “He can stay. As long as he is quiet he is not bad a company.”

His mother smiled again. “What does he say to be not good a company anymore?”

Loki moved his jaw forward as he often did when he was displeased. “Things”, he hissed.

“What things?”, she dug deeper. She knew his reactions too well. She knew he was agitated. When he didn’t answer she asked: “True things?”

True things. True things always hurt Loki most. He was the Liesmith. He knew lies very well. But the worst thing about lies wasn’t to be lied to. It was finding out the truth.

He pulled his hands away from Frigga and got up. “I think I need some rest”, he mumbled.

She just nodded and watched as he left the room.


	14. Chapter 14

It was dark outside. It had already been evening when he had talked to Thor, but now it must have been night. He remembered the early morning when still compromised Clint had attacked the S.H.I.E.L.D.-ship. Then the fight. Loki escaping. Coulson’s death. And then the huge battle in New York. Had it really been only midday when he had died? How many hours had passed since then? 10? 12? Only half a day. It felt like a week.

He realised Loki was back when he tilted his head. He sat beside him on the bed, staring blankly in the distance.

“How long did I sleep?”, he croaked.

Loki kept staring. “Not for long”, he replied. “An hour, maybe.”

“What time is it?”

“I do not know.”

Tony cautiously sat up and rubbed his eyes. He was still feeling tired.

Loki was still staring at the invisible spot on the wall, his ankles crossed on the bed, his back leaned against the huge bed-head. He looked tense.

“Are you mad at me?”, Tony asked.

Loki pulled his head back in a silent snort of false amusement. “How come you think that.”

“I don’t know. Just feeling like it. Pepper was mad at me often, I have a sense for it.”

This time Loki snorted audibly. “You do not. Everyone is mad at you, it is just as simple as that.”

“Aw, really? And I thought that was one of my superpowers!”

“You are getting annoying again.”

“What the hell! I was just talking!”

“Exactly.”

“You must be really mad at me then.”

“You have no idea.”

Tony took the cup from the bed table and took a sip. “Shall I leave the room so you can sleep a bit?”

“No.”

“Shall I move over so you have more space?”

“No.”

“Shall I sleep on the floor?“

“For Hel’s sake, all I want you to do is to be quiet!”

“It wouldn’t help the conversation much if I’d be, though.”

“Who says I desire to talk to you!”

“What else do you wanna do with me? Just hanging around in bed together? I thought we wanted to have dinner before we-“

“Stark”, Loki growled, “this is my last warning! Be! Quiet!”

Tony was quiet. At least for the few seconds it took to take another sip from the cup.

“What did I do to make you this angry?”, he wanted to know.

Loki sighed enervated and rolled his eyes.

“What did I do?”, Tony asked again.

Loki clenched his teeth but didn’t answer. But no one could just be silent at Tony when he wanted to know something.

“Come on. What did I do?”, he repeated, putting the cup back on the table. “Tell me. What did I do to make you that angry? You said you were mad at me. Why? What did I –“

“You want to know what you did?!”, Loki suddenly shouted. He finally turned his head to look at Tony. He was looking furious again. “Here is what you did! You tricked me into telling you my story! You fooled me into believing you understood me and then you spit it back in my face by having a lovely chat about my punishment with Thor again! Then you kept on annoying me with your false commitment until I had to leave my own chambers, sick of your blathering! And now you keep on blabbering despite the fact I told you to be quiet! That is what you did!”

Tony blinked in irritation. “Tricked you into telling me your story? Fooling you into believing me? What the heck! I didn’t trick or fool you into anything! You just told me when I asked!”

“Is that so! And what about all the nonsense of getting me! Of understanding my thinking and feeling!”

“That wasn’t nonsense!”

“Wasn’t it! And all of your analysis! “You did lose for what you made of it”!”

“Hey, it’s not my fault you lost! It’s only the truth!”

“Well, maybe I did not require to hear the “truth” from you!”

“Oh, didn’t you!” Tony was beginning to get mad himself. This guy was unbelievable! He had done his best to be nice and understanding because he had felt like Loki needed a bit of support to get on the right course again. And now he was trying to tell him it had been _his_ _FAULT_?! He felt his anger rise to the point where he had no control over it anymore. And he didn’t care either. If Loki wanted a battle again, he could get one!

“Didn’t you!”, he snapped again. “Yeah, I can imagine it’s not nice to hear the truth when you’re the accused one! But I tell you what, that’s not my problem! I didn’t do all those things! I didn’t make you do it! You don’t wanna hear the truth?! Then you better cover your ears cause there is more to come! I'm sick and tired of you commandeering everyone around, like, things not only happen the way YOU want it, Mr President! If I wanna say something to you I'm going to say it! And if you have a problem with that then you better –"

“SHUT UUUP!!”

Tony had never heard Loki scream before. He had seen him losing his patience, his poise, getting angry or furious. But he had never heard him scream. And he didn’t want to ever hear it again.

They glared at each other. Loki’s eyes were wide, his lips pressed together. Tony’s eyes moved over his face rapidly.

“You’ll have to make me”, he heard himself provoke. “Because I really don’t want to.“

Loki’s eyes grew even wider and he swallowed. It was clear he was only one word away from exploding or doing something really really bad. Of course Tony wouldn’t shut up now.

“I’m not done yet”, he stated, holding Loki’s glare. “Look, I tried to help you and you’re treating me like a traitor! I actually died because of you and I still try to defend you somehow and all I get is being shouted at! And you know what, it kind of feels like you-“

He was cut off right there by lips crashing hard onto his own. He was startled for a moment before he realised that it was exactly what he had aimed at.

He didn’t know why. Or when he had decided to. But it was something in the way Loki was behaving. This anger. The fury. It was the same kind he felt when he was about to explode because he felt trapped. Caught in the web built by his own actions. It was the worst feeling he knew. The despair of having pushed oneself too far to return.

Loki had already been on the edge of tipping over. The little fight had just been the last push. But Loki wouldn’t have waited right next to Tony if he hadn’t wanted to tip. He must have helped to bring Loki there. With his actions, his words. But sooner or later they would have had ended up there anyway. It had only been a matter of time. They were just too much alike not to. And Tony was somehow glad they were.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And, was it worth the wait? ;)


	15. (here's the smut for all the ones who only search for that ;))

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since the last chapter was late, I thought I'd give you this one earlier ;) Enjoy!

Given the fact that Loki was a Frostgiant, Tony had expected his skin to feel cold, but it didn’t. It felt totally normal. A bit cool, maybe. Those were the first thoughts that crossed his mind when the shock had settled and he could think again. Then he wondered what the fuck he was actually doing. He tried to ask Loki that, but him opening his mouth only led to a slick tongue invading it with determined force. Loki very obviously didn’t want to talk. Alright then.

He let the god take over the kiss and placed his hand on the other’s cheek. He felt soft hair underneath his fingertips and a little prickle ran through them. Soft as silk. It felt fantastic. He wanted to feel more of it so he let his hand slip into it, grabbing it softly. Loki seemed to take that as a challenge for he laid both of his hands on Tony’s neck. They were cool too, but in a pleasant way. When Tony finally managed to let his focus slip off them, he noticed his second hand had found its way to Loki’s side.

And then Loki pushed. He pushed Tony back, softly at first and when Tony wouldn’t give in immediately, harder. Tony tightened his grip on Loki and pulled him along until his back hit the bed and Loki was leaning above him. Their tongues were still fighting and Tony had to admit he actually enjoyed it a lot. His hand slipped under Loki’s shirt to feel more of his cool skin and he could feel Loki shuddering softly as he let it slide over his side. The body above him pressed closer to his own and Loki bit his lower lip. Tony grunted softly and bit back. Obviously Loki hadn’t anticipated that because his body stiffed for a moment. Then he started to kiss Tony with a passion that left him breathless for a moment and pressed his thigh hard against Tony’s groin. From there on things turned into a blur.

He remembered the kiss becoming wet and sloppy. He remembered their hands wandering over the other’s body, grabbing, pressing. He remembered fabric being ripped or pulled off, muscles tensing, teeth biting, low moaning, fingers pulling on hair. He remembered them finally flipping over, Loki now being the one on his back and Tony the one above him. He wondered for a moment why Loki would let him take the wheel, but then he remembered. “I tried too hard to impress my father”, he had said. “I was never worthy. I was never good enough.” Loki submitted himself to Tony because he was afraid. He was afraid of not being good enough, of disappointing Tony. By giving Tony the lead he spared himself of making any mistakes, of doing anything wrong. It meant he was vulnerable for Tony at this very moment, but it also meant he wasn’t. Tony could do whatever he wanted to him, but Loki couldn’t in fact do anything or do anything wrong. And so he was safe.

He remembered Loki glaring daggers at him when he even tried to open his mouth, but then he felt some sort of magic lubricant wetting his tip when he pressed against Loki’s body. So he just pushed in slowly, earning a soft moan from the god. He remembered trying to keep it low, rocking into the body cautiously but then the groaning turned him on too much. The head falling back, the neck exposed, the back arching, everything just turned him mad and he started to thrust harder, faster, only increasing the moans and gasps until finally he was ramming himself into the body below him again and again, Loki screaming and clawing at his back, leaving streaks and then teeth marks when he bit Tony’s neck.

Just when it all was over, when Tony was lying on his back beside the other man, still panting, his vision cleared again for a moment and he realised everything that just had happened. But then his body quit, still exhausted from the day, especially the last part of it and so he fell asleep before he could think too much. He managed to grab Loki’s hand before he did, entwining their fingers. Then his eyes fell shut and he began to dream.


	16. Chapter 16

Loki had meant to stay awake and think. But he hadn’t been able to. He had barely slept the last night and the day had been overly exhausting. The last thing he had felt was Tony entwining their fingers. Then he had fallen asleep.

As he opened his eyes, he immediately saw him again. Propped on one elbow he was lying beside him, studying his face with those brown eyes of his. Loki frowned slightly.

“You are already awake”, he murmured, still sleepy.

The other man smiled. “Yes”, he replied. “For half an hour or something.”

Loki catiously moved his fingers but they were free now. Tony wasn’t holding them anymore. “Have you watched me all this time?”, he wanted to know.

“Yep. Sure did.”

Loki groaned and rubbed his forehead. It was aching. Aching from too many unthought thoughts. “Did you enjoy the view of me all peaceful and innocent before it is too late again?”

Tony shook is head. “No. You actually don’t look peaceful when you sleep.”

Loki raised his brows and looked at him. “I do not?”, he asked.

“No. You look as if you are in pain”, Tony answered.

Loki’s frown deepened. He opened his mouth but Tony interrupted him.

“No, no, no, this time I speak and you are quiet. Just listen to me for a second, okay?” He waited to see if Loki disagreed with him, but the god remained silent. So Tony went on: “I don’t know why you did this. You know what I mean. I don’t know if it was desperation, curiosity or just for fun. But I know that it was serious for me. A lot of things happened and it’s all pretty weird and strange and I don’t understand it myself, but I actually like you. A lot. No, not liking, it’s more like… a deep bond or connection that somehow developed and I’m quite sure that it –“

A finger on his lips stopped the man from going on.

“Stop right there before you say anything stupid”, Loki ordered. “We are not connected. Nor is there any bond between us. We are enemies that got caught in the heat of the events. Nothing more.” He sat up. “We will go now and clean ourselves. Then we will dress and eat and then I will see if I can get you back to Midgard, already. I am sure your friends will –“

He stopped when he felt strong arms wrapping around his chest and a body pressing against his back. He stiffened.

“Don’t go”, he heard Tony beg. Something in his voice sent a shiver down his spine. “I don’t want you to go. I don’t want to leave yet. I want to stay.”

“Why do you keep doing this”, Loki whispered. “Why do you keep trying.”

“Because I know how it feels to be given up on. And I know that it hurts. And I know that it’s easier to pretend to reject the other first so no one will be able to do that to you. So I also know when someone really wants to be held instead of leaving.”

Loki relaxed for a second. Then he tensed his muscles again to get up because he felt that pressure building everywhere in his body. But Tony pulled him back.

“Don’t try this on me”, he said. “Don’t try this “Leave me alone, I don’t need you, I don’t want you around”. I know you’re lying.”

The pressure increased and Loki wanted to scream. He wanted to yell in Tony’s face that he didn’t know him at all. He felt weak and transparent and he wanted to prove that he wasn’t. But then all of a sudden he just felt tired. Tired of fighting. And he gave in. He gave in to the warmth of Tony’s body and the truth of Tony’s words and let go. Something in him got washed away and he could feel his body slumping. He couldn’t decide whether he felt empty or relieved. But he didn’t protest when Tony let him sink on his back and lay beside him. When he stroked Loki’s cheek, the god jumped a little, but Tony kept stroking it softly.

“It’s just me”, he said calmly. “Relax, it’s just me. Just carressing you. It’s just me.”

Loki closed his eyes and allowed the mortal to stroke his face. Then he layed his hands on Tony’s neck and pulled him into a kiss. This time they went for it affectionately.


	17. Chapter 17

After this second time they really needed to wash themselves. After that they got dressed and Loki left to get something to eat. They talked during breakfast and went outside afterwards. Loki showed Tony around Asgard, just as he had wished and the engineer was fascinated by the mixture of ancient and future lifestyle.

They talked and laughed a lot during the day. It was as if Loki had changed completely. He wasn’t sarcastic or snappish anymore, just witty and funny and Tony wondered whether he had always been like this earlier, before he had discovered he actually was a Frostgiant. He didn’t quite buy that new Loki yet. The change had been too extreme, too easy. He couldn’t imagine Loki really trusted him and that everything was already solved now. But he didn’t doubt that Loki was genuine the way he was. Right at that moment, right that day, Loki was different because Tony was there and that was true. The question was how long it would last.

In the little breaks they took they talked about science, but, even though Tony tried to ask about it a couple of times, never about magic. He figured that Loki was still sensitive about losing his ability to operate magic, so he dropped the topic after the third try. Other than that Loki was very willing to explain the Asgardian way of living and they spent the whole day talking and wandering around. Whenever they came across someone, they simply ignored them and walked on. Loki knew where they would probably run into Thor, Sif or the Warriors Three, so they avoided those places, like the training field or any often used paths in and around the palace. Tony once caught a glimpse of Thor from the distance, but the god didn’t approach them, though Tony was sure he had seen them just as well.

When the sun slowly began to sink, they sat on a bench and watched the sky turning red in silence.

“Thanks for the tour”, Tony said after a long while. “You really live in an interesting home.”

“It’s not my home, actually”, Loki replied, twiddling his own fingers. “It is not where I belong.”

“Hm. But you know, you yourself choose where your home is. Where you feel that you belong. It’s not a matter of where you were born or where others might think you belong to.”

“It is not easy to feel home somewhere everybody hates you and thinks you belong in the dungeons”, Loki grunted.

“Well, no. But not everyone here hates you, you know.”

“Are you talking about my so-called “brother”?”

“No, rather about your mother.” Loki went calm on this and Tony was silent as well for a while. Then he asked: “What is Jotunheim like?”

“Cold”, Loki answered after a moment. “Cold and dead. It is mere ruins of what it once was. You would not want to go there.”

“So you wouldn’t want to live there either, I suppose.”

“No.”

“Then I guess Asgard is still the better home for you.”

“At least better than Midgard, populated by puny mortals such as you.”

“Well, yeah. At least here you’re still a mighty prince and all.”

“I thought you said I would be a prince in your world too if I agreed to espouse you.”

“Right. You wanna wear white or black at the wedding?”

“I think I want to wear green”, Loki hummed.

Then they both laughed and shared a kiss. It was the first one they shared outside the bed.


	18. Chapter 18

The next day was when Loki’s change ended. They had gone back to his chambers and had had dinner there, then some more sex and a lot of talking before they finally had slept. Until now they had spent the new day with breakfast and a long stay in the library, studying old books that somehow seemed to move, which fascinated Tony completely. They had also visited Yggdrasil, which had been even more fascinating to Tony. Just when they were having dinner in the evening, someone knocked on the door and immediately entered. It was Thor.

Loki instantly turned into a  beast again. “Who allowed you to enter!”, he snapped, straightening himself up. “These are still my chambers and I did not –“

“I require to talk to Anthony”, Thor interrupted him. This made Loki only angrier.

“Then take him outside! I will not let you two have a conversation without me in my own bed-chamber!”

Thor looked at Tony who just shrugged and got up. “Be back in a sec”, he said, walking over to Thor. “Don’t get anything going without me!”

Thor frowned at that but didn’t say anything. He just left the room with Tony and shut the door behind them.

They were gone for quite a while. Loki had lost his appetite and put everything they had eaten from on a table near the wall. Then he went out on the balcony and stared at everything that lay beneath him. He thought about what Tony had said yesterday. That Asgard was the better home for him. It was true. He wouldn’t want to live in Jotunheim. Or Midgard. Or did he? Living in Midgard wouldn’t be that bad. After all he had tried to conquer it. Had he really become the king of earth, wouldn’t he have lived there anyway? And Stark Tower wasn’t that terrible, actually. Also Tony would be around for intercourse and also genial conversation. Maybe he should consider that an option. Hadn’t Tony said he could choose his own home? Why not choose a world where they once worshipped him as a God, where he was stronger and more powerful than the regular population?

But he couldn’t go. The Allfather had forbidden him to leave Asgard. He was a prisoner in this realm and without his magic and powers he wouldn’t be any better than the best of the human race. He grit his teeth and clenched his fingers around the balustrade.

When the door opened again, he turned around to see Tony coming towards him.

“What did that oaf want from you?”, he asked. He wished he hadn’t. Because what Tony then answered made his heart drop to his feet.

“He will take me back to Midgard tomorrow”, Tony said. “I feel well enough again to leave and the others are probably freaking out already. Especially… especially Pepper. I just want to tell them I’m okay again.”

Loki stared at him, unable to even think. “You will leave me”, he finally gasped. “You will just leave?”

“Well, yeah, no. For a while. I need to get back and-“

“A while?!” There he was again. Shouting and aggressive Loki. “What while! You will go back and tell them you are fine! They will not believe you! They will keep you in bed for some days until they finally see you really are alive again and then life will go on for you! You will work, you will invent, you will be Iron Man again! You will built a new suit and help to repair the damage in New York!”

“Loki, I –“

“You will talk to that woman and become her lover again because you cannot let her go! And I will sit here alone and rot!”

“No, I will –“

“Yes, you will! You will leave me like everybody else did! I knew it! It is always like this! Others always come first! I am always just second best! My father left me to die! The Allfather left me to falsehood! My brother left me for a mortal woman! And so will you! Why did I even trust you for just one second! I told you from the beginning you only wanted to use me! And so you did!”

“Loki, for heaven’s sake! Let me just –“

“NO!” Loki shoved Tony hard so that the engineer stumbled backwards. “NO, I WILL NOT LET YOU!”, he screamed. “GET OUT OF HERE! GET OUT OF HERE NOW! GET OUT OF THIS CHAMBER AND NEVER COME BACK!” He shoved him again and Tony desperately tried not to fall over. He also tried to say something, but Loki didn’t let him. “GO!”, he yelled one last time and then shoved Tony through the door into the hallway.

“Loki, I –“

But Loki didn’t hear him anymore. He slammed the door shut and locked it quickly before anyone could open it again. He heard Tony call something but he didn’t understand what it was. He heard him knocking and beating against the door, but he didn’t open it. He just cowered on his bed and wrapped his own arms around his head. The muffled shouts and beats continued for a while until Tony finally gave up and left. Loki then started to cry and collapsed onto the sheets.


	19. Chapter 19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A bit earlier this time, but why not ;)

He had trusted him. He really had trusted him. And now he hated himself so much for this. How could he have been so stupid? Nobody liked him. Nobody _loved_ him. He was just Loki. And Tony was his enemy.

Yes, they had gotten along quite well. But only because they had been so similar. It hadn’t been friendship or love, it had just been understanding and interest. Not enough to make Tony stay. Not enough to be better than his friends and this stupid Pepper. Not enough. Loki was never enough.

His whole body shook and convulsed from the heavy sobbing that made his stomach contract so hard that it hurt. He knew he cried over more than Tony right now. He cried over everything that had happened: Tony, New York, Thor, Jotunheim, Odin, Laufey, his whole life. Everything just burst out of him with tears and sobs and screams and he couldn’t stop until he was too spent to carry on anymore.

Then he just lay on his bed and didn’t move anymore. He just stared. He didn’t see or hear or think or feel anything. He was just there. He didn’t know how long he lay there. He was vaguely aware that someone tampered with the door, but he didn’t care. When the door finally opened, he didn’t look up. He didn’t even wonder how they had unlock it. Maybe Thor had crushed it with his hammer. Or Frigga had used some magic. He didn’t care. He would never care anymore.

He felt the bed beside his head sink in when a weight settled onto it. Then he felt fingers brush through his hair. And then he heard Tony’s voice.

“Hey, drama queen”, he softly said. “Don’t ever do that again, okay? You scared my ass off.  I was really worried about you.”

Loki didn’t know how to react for a while. Should he shout again? Cry? Just kill him?

“Yes, poor you”, he finally replied soundlessly.

“Yes, poor me. Everyone always assumes I’m an asshole. But I can be very nice, you know. I care for people. That’s why I’m Iron Man.”

“You are Iron Man because you like being called a hero. You are selfish, Anthony.”

“That’s true, I am”, Tony sighed. “That’s why I came back, actually. Just because of me. Because I felt bad without you. And I wanted to be near you again to feel better. Because knowing you’re sad makes me very uncomfortable. So I need you to be okay again so I’ll be okay as well.”

“Shut up, Anthony.”

“No, I won’t shut up. Not before you cheered up again.”

“I won’t.”

“Not even when I tell you I’ll stay?”

“You will not.”

“I will. I will stay here. Thor will go without me.”

“Will he?”

“Yes.”

Loki thought about some insult, but couldn’t come up with anything clever.

“I will stay”, Tony said again.

“What about your friends”, Loki asked.

“They’re all superheroes, they’ll be okay without me.”

“And what about your precious Pepper.”

"She'll be happy to have some time without me, you know."

Loki just snorted at this. But Tony continued: "Besides, no one is as precious to me as you. And right now you need me the most."

“I do not need you.”

“But I need you.”

Loki remained silent again. “Are you really going to stay?”, he then wanted to know.

“As long as I can”, was the reply. “And when I leave, I will only leave together with you.”

The words made it through Loki’s ears to his heart and his heart brought a smile up to his lips. It was weak but it was honest and Tony saw it.

“Are you alright again, Lokes?”, he asked.

“I am alright again”, Loki said and slowly sat up.

“Good. Because now I really want to kiss you and some other stuff and all.”

Loki smiled wider and pulled Tony closer. “Yes”, he responded. “I want that too.”

When he let Tony top him this time, it wasn’t to feel safe, it was out of true trust.


	20. Chapter 20

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fluffy-time!

They lay beside each other afterwards, just looking the other in the eyes. After a while Loki raised his voice.

“Why?”, he wanted to know. “Why did you choose to come back?”

“Isn’t that obvious?”

“I wouldn’t have asked if it was.”

“Hm. How can I explain that”, Tony hummed. “So, let’s see. There are flowers and there are bees. And when a bee decides to-“

“What by Hel are you talking about, Stark.”

Tony laughed. “Sorry, your face was just priceless.”

“Can we get serious, please? I am not in the mood for joking.”

“Sorry”, Tony chuckled. “Okay, yeah. Let’s get serious.”

“I’m listening.”

“I know.” Tony thought for a while. He didn’t want to upset Loki again, so he had to choose the right words. “I’m in love”, he finally stated. “Sorry, I tried to explain it differently in my head, but I can’t. That’s just it. I have a serious crush on you.”

Loki raised his eyebrow. “You are in love with me”, he repeated. “After only two days. After I tried to conquer your planet and destroyed your hometown. Certainly.”

“No, yeah. Seriously. I know it sounds strange, but that’s the way it is. I’m an impulsive person. Spontaneous. Always have been. Can’t help it. I don’t have any sense, I only act. And here we are.”

Loki opened his mouth to reply, but didn’t know how.

Tony took over and added: “That’s just the way I am. I get involved very fast and very intensely. And you just got me. And now I can’t get out.”

“Do you want to get out?”

“No.”

Loki shook his head slightly. “You are a fool”, he said and Tony nodded.

“Yes, probably. But I’d rather describe myself as a genius.”

“Why?”, Loki asked again. “Why me? Is it because we are so similar?”

“Hm, no. And yes. You know, I don’t like myself that much. I love me, but only so I don’t need to hate myself. And so do you. But I love all that what you don’t love about yourself.”

“… What?”

“All the stuff. All the stuff you hate. Don’t get me wrong, your wit and your intelligence are nice. But what really fascinates me about you is your compassion. Your devotion. All those traits you try to hide behind your intelligence, mischief, chaos, planning and other things you like about yourself, everything you try to hide behind all that is what really is admirable about you. All the things you do not show, that’s what draws me to you. I can’t love that in myself but I can love it in you.”

“I am not-“

“Ah, ah, ah! Don’t deny it! We’ve had that discussion before! We _are_ similar, don’t forget it! I see through you!”

Loki pressed his lips together and Tony had to laugh again. “Oh, don’t gimme that look again. Don’t take everything as an insult, okay?”

Loki snorted, but the fierce look cleared from his face.

“That’s right. You’re much more beautiful like that.”

“… Let us sleep now”, Loki suggested.

Instead of a reply Tony yawned and shuffled closer to him, curling up against Loki’s chest. “Night, babe”, he murmured before he closed his eyes.

Loki hesitated for a moment but then laid an arm around the other. “Good night, Tony”, he said and listened to the man’s breath becoming calm and steady.


	21. Chapter 21

Loki stayed awake for a while longer. He had to think. What Tony had said had made him nervous somehow and he had to figure out why.

He loved him, he had said. Did he really? Loki had seen his impulsivity, his tendency to do what _felt_ right instead of what _seemed_ right. He had seen a lot of the other’s character, both in reality and during the revival ritual. He knew Tony didn’t lie about that. But was he really in love?

He trusted Loki, that was for sure. He had slept with him several times and had stayed in his bed overnight.  
He had also come back to Loki, he had put him above his friends and even Pepper. And Loki was sure that Thor had tried to talk to Tony about him as well, so Tony must have ignored his warnings or asks, maybe even defended him against his older brother. So he also was loyal to him.

Trust and loyalty. And the claim to love him. That was more than Loki had ever had. Yes, Thor was somehow loyal too and probably still loved him, but Thor was something different. Only the thought of him made the anger rise in Loki again. No, Thor had put too much else above Loki. He had never defended him against the jokes and bullies he had had to suffer. He had never let one ray of light fall upon Loki, he had taken it all for himself. Tony was different than Thor. Tony was better.

Loki decided to trust Tony that he was in love with him. Yes, it was strange since they had been enemies. But really they hadn’t been. They had only stood on two different sides. Now they didn’t anymore. Now they were no longer enemies. And yes, it was all going too quickly. But that it had went so quickly, that it was so strong after so little time, only proved that it would last. It wasn’t just attraction, attraction wouldn’t have lasted longer than the first shared night. It was more than that. It had to be. It had to.

Because when he was honest to himself, Loki needed it to be true. To last. He needed something to hold onto, now that everything else had failed. And Tony offered it to him so willingly. He was hesitant to trust it since he had been betrayed too often before. But all in him screamed for it. For this love, this devotion. For Tony.

What about him? Did Loki really love him? Or did he only yearn for the attention, the offered affection? The offered love? No. It had maybe started like that, the attention he had gotten when Tony had listened to his story. But it was everything in Tony that he yearned for by now. His humour, his intelligence, his strength. He had been attracted to that in the Stark Tower already. And now it was so much more that he admired. And wasn’t granting Loki attention and love part of Tony as well?

It was clear, then, Loki was in love with Tony too. He wouldn’t have cried when he had wanted to leave, otherwise. They were mutually interested in one another, they both were in love. There was only one problem left.

Tony was cursed.


	22. Chapter 22

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shit's getting real now, guys.

When Tony woke up, Loki was gone. He raised his head, blinking, looking around for him, but he wasn’t there. He wasn’t in the bathroom either. The only thing Tony could find was a note. It read:

“I need to take care of things. I will not be here today. Have a look around by yourself.

Love, Loki”

Tony smiled at this. “Love, Loki”. It gave a warm and soft sting to his heart.

He ate some of the food Loki must have gotten for him, washed himself and dressed. The clothes still didn’t fit, but he was almost used to it by now. He fastened his belt and then left the room.

He didn’t have to search long for Thor to find him. The prince was on the training ground, talking to a handsome guy with blond hair and a beard. On the ground itself an Asian looking guy and a woman fought. Tony watched them for a moment. The woman really looked gorgeous. He definitely would have hit on her if it wasn’t for Loki. Then again she looked as if she could castrate him with just one gaze. Better not risk it.

He strolled over to Thor and politely waited until the god noticed him himself. The blond guy smiled at him and patted him on the shoulder. “You must be the famous Man of Iron Thor so often talks about!”, he cheerfully noticed. “I am Fandral the Dashing, one of the Warriors Three! I say it is a pleasure to meet you!”

“Likewise”, Tony responded. “Nice beard you got there.”

Fandral laughed and patted his shoulder again. “Thank you! I can only return that compliment. I would love to exchange some more words with you, but I fear Sif wants to beat me soon. I need to get prepared. I hope this will not have been the last time we met!”

“I hope so too”, Tony smiled and watched as the warrior said Goodbye to Thor and left towards the stairs. “Very polite”, he then said to Thor. “Knows exactly when to leave. I love your good manners here, you should teach some of them to people I need to work with.”

Thor laughed. “Thank you, my friend. I am glad you enjoy our company.”

“Yeah, about company…”

Thor immediately looked worried. “What is wrong?”, he wanted to know. “Did something happen?”

“No, no. Well, actually, yes. Your brother happened.”

One could see the meaning of those words slowly creeping into Thor’s head and letting his facial expression change. Tony couldn’t tell to what. Surprise, shock, maybe even concern.

“Oh”, Thor finally answered back. “We maybe should talk about that somewhere else…”

They started to walk towards the gardens where usually nobody was around. It was deserted now too. They could talk without being overheard.

“What exactly happened with my brother?”, Thor asked. “Was it his fault?”

“No, it was nobody’s fault. We just somehow ended up in bed together and then again and again and then somehow we ended up liking each other too much.”

Thor’s eyebrows shot up. “You slept with Loki?!”, he almost shouted in disbelief.

“Yeah, kind of.”

The god grunted.

“Hey, he’s handsome and there was a lot of tension. Don’t blame us.”

“I do not blame you…”

“You do.”

“I blame you for the other thing that happened.”

“The feelings?”

Thor frowned. “Yes. It is not wise to develop feelings of that kind for Loki.”

“Why not? You and Jane fell in love within two or three days.”

“I do not speak of timely matters. I speak of my brother and his mischief. He will hurt you.”

“Actually it was me who hurt him first.”

“Is that why you needed to get into his chambers so urgently yesterday?”

“Yes. It was my fault. He didn’t hurt me since I am here.”

“He killed you.”

“He didn’t. It was collateral damage.”

Thor’s frown even deepened. “He is unpredictable. You never know what he is plotting next. He might only use you to –“

“You see, that’s actually what’s wrong with you all. You always treat Loki as if he already did something when in fact he hasn’t yet.”

“He caused a lot of chaos in the last hundreds of years.”

“Yeah, and he also saved your ass quite often.” Thor stayed quiet at this so Tony went on. “You love him as well, Thor. Why do you try to prevent me from loving him too?”

“Because I know the pain it causes”, Thor muttered. “It is not easy loving him.”

“I never said it was. I know it’s a complicated thing. But we both know that you can’t just stop loving someone. Especially not someone as… special as Loki.”

Thor sighed. “That is true.”

“So you are not mad at me because I dishonoured your brother or something?”

“Well… It is of your own choosing who you both want to share your bed with…”

“So you don’t crush my skull with your hammer just because you don’t want to clean the mess.”

“I am only worried about you.”

“You don’t need to be.”

Thor stopped and Tony turned towards him. “Anthony”, the blond man asked, “are you truly in love with Loki?”

Tony returned his look and nodded slowly. “I am”, he responded.

Thor nodded as well. He looked pretty severe. “Then, I beg you”, he said, “to take good care of my brother.”


	23. Chapter 23

Since Loki didn’t arrive, no matter how long Tony waited for him in his chambers, he finally decided to go to bed without him. The training and the long bath he had had afterwards (longer than necessary, but Asgardian bathtubs fascinated him too much. There was a constant stream of clean water flowing into the tub to keep the water fresh while the used water kept disappearing throughout a leakage. Tony needed something like this at home) had made him tired and even though he missed Loki’s cool body against his, he fell asleep within a few minutes.

 

 ~~~~~

 

Yes, Loki didn’t come to join Tony that night. He had been away to one of his hidden places where he knew nobody would find him, not even his mother would she have searched for him. He had sat in this little cave, staring at the walls as he always did. He loved searching for new and old figures and forms in the structures of the stone, he loved to think here. And he had thought. A lot. Until deep into the night he had laid there, staring into the darkness, listening to the sounds he was so familiar with. Finally he had gotten up and had returned to the palace. Where now he was knocking on Thor’s door.

 

~~~~~

 

“Brother”, Thor mumbled surprised, rubbing his bleary eyes. “What are you doing here?”

“I need your help”, Loki whispered back.

“Now? It’s the middle of the night.”

“It is urgent.”

Thor frowned, which in his still dozy state looked more like pouting. “Is it because of Anthony?”

“… May I come in?”

“Yes, sure.” Thor stepped aside and let Loki come into the room. The dark haired trickster sat on his brother’s bed while the blond god closed the door again. He sat beside Loki who didn’t object.

“So”, Thor spoke again. “What is it? Has he wronged you? Do you want me to take him back to Midgard?”

“No. No, he hasn’t done anything. I have. It is my fault, in fact.”

Thor refrained to say anything to that.

Loki sighed and started fiddling with his fingers. “I… made a terrible mistake”, he finally continued. “When I revived Anthony, I didn’t know we would end up- … like this. I saw him as an object I could use to my advantage. Like I always do.”

Again Thor didn’t say anything, even though Loki was sure he would have had some accusations to make.

“What did you do?”, he wanted to know instead. He sounded concerned. Loki couldn’t tell whether he was about Tony or his brother.

“… I cursed him”, he brought out between gritted teeth. “I weaved a spell into his flesh. And now I cannot undo it anymore, since the Allfather has taken away my magic.”

He could feel Thor’s gaze burning into him. He felt fear and also rage building in his brother, even though the other tried to stay calm.

“What kind of curse”, Thor asked and his voice was heavy from oppressed emotions.

Loki swallowed.

“What kind of curse!”

“… It is a tracking spell”, Loki answered quietly, even though his voice trembled a bit. “I hoped that it would lead Thanos to the Avengers instead of me, so they would get rid of him. So I would not have to deal with that anymore.”

He could feel Thor staring at him in shock and disbelief. What soon turned into anger that made the hairs in Loki’s neck erect. It was the same feeling he had always had when Thor had grown extremely angry at him, so angry that he had sometimes feared he had gone too far. Except this time he _knew_ he had gone too far.

Before Thor’s anger could grow into hate against Loki, he spoke again: “I need your help, brother. To undo this spell. To save Anthony. Please. I really am in love with him, Thor.”

The hot burning of Thor’s anger lingered for a moment, then it slowly grew colder. It didn’t fade completely, but it vanished enough to assure Loki that Thor took his request seriously. That he understood Loki’s awareness of his own mistake. And that he would help his little brother. Like he had done so many times before.

“What is your plan?”, Thor asked.

“We will return the Casket of Ancient Winters to its rightful owners”, Loki said. “We will bring it to Jotunheim.”


	24. Chapter 24

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So you alle enjoyed the plot twist? :D  
> What about the Casket and Jotunheim? XD
> 
> (Thanks for all the nice comments on my last chapter :3)

He had expected Thor to get furious about this. He let him scream and yell at him for a while without answering until he couldn’t avoid to say anything anymore.

“WHAT MAKES YOU EVEN THINK OF THAT!”, Thor yelled. “WHAT MAKES YOU EVEN BELIEVE THIS WOULD HELP YOU GET BACK YOUR MAGIC!”

“Let me explain and you will see”, Loki said. “Please calm down, brother. Your screaming will only alert the guards.”

Thor bristled with anger, but he gritted his teeth and limited himself to just staring at Loki. Staring at the person who had tried to destroy Jotunheim when he had been king of Asgard, who had lead Frostgiants to their realm twice, who was Jotun himself. The race that had attacked Midgard, that was dangerous and reckless and that had been punished for a reason. Staring at the person who wanted to restore them their source of power.

“The Frostgiants attacked earth”, Loki began, “I am well aware of that. And it was Asgard’s duty to protect it. But we have forgotten something. Something very important: It is not only Asgard’s duty to protect Midgard. It is Asgard’s duty to protect all the Nine Realms. Which also includes Jotunheim.”

Thor’s expression hardened. He tried to say something, but Loki quickly continued: “They deserve punishment. They are a threat. But they become an even bigger threat when we keep on oppressing them. Their hate grows. And someday it might lead to another war.”

“They already hate us”, Thor growled. “Giving them back the Casket would only give them the strength to fight us.”

“Maybe”, Loki nodded. “But maybe it can also lead to their realm recovering from the decay. They need to heal, they need to get back their dignity. They are seething with hate that needs to be calmed down by showing some respect towards them.”

“This is too dangerous, Loki. What if – “

“What if what? The Tesseract is back in Asgard. We are strong enough to defeat them. And Midgard is safe. They just managed to fight off me and the Chitauri almost on their own. They can also fight the Frostgiants if the worst should happen.”

Thor wasn’t really convinced. “It’s still too dangerous”, he said. “And I still do not understand what you are after.”

“What I am after is to be better than Odin was. He only knows punishment. But punishment only leads to hate. I should know.”

His brother clenched his fists repeatedly to release some tension, but didn’t reply.

“Tony has shown me that attention solves a lot more problems. When we care about the Frostgiants, we prove ourselves worthy by sacrificing our own comfort to help our sworn enemies. And that is what will bring my magic back.”

Loki knew his brother was still not at all for this plan. And he had his reasons. He had hated the Frostgiants for too long, they were a threat for both Asgard and Midgard and he also feared to betray the Allfather.

“Doesn’t everyone deserve a second chance?”, Loki asked. “Maybe the Allfather’s plan will work out in the end. And I will bring peace to our two realms.”

Thor stayed silent for a long time. Then, finally, his shoulders dropped and he let out a sigh. “When do we start?”


	25. Chapter 25

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, chapter is a bit late this time! >.

They started right away. Loki didn’t want anyone to notice and so it had to happen during the night. They hoped to be faster than Heimdall could spot them and react to it, or the whole plan would fail. Thor was still anything but happy about it, but he had gotten dressed and had fetched Mjolnir from its place beside his bed.

“When Thanos is coming –“, Loki had said, “and he will be coming – we will need any help we can get.”

“So why are we not giving the Casket to the Frostgiants just _when_ we need them?”, Thor had asked. “So they won’t attack us before Thanos is even here?”

“Because then they won’t help us”, Loki had answered, peeking around a corner for guards. “Maybe they will take the chance and destroy Asgard together with Thanos. If we manage to get them on our side first by giving them back their Casket, they will be our allies, not his.”

“I am not so sure about this”, Thor had growled.

“They will destroy us either way if we are unlucky, no matter when we give them Casket.”

“So you admit it is a stupid idea!”

“Shut up, Thor.”

By now they had made it to the vault where the Casket and all the other acquirements Asgard had stolen were kept. It was guarded, of course. But Thor just strode right towards the guards and involved them into a talk so that Loki could sneak up behind them. A quick strike on the right spot and the first guard was collapsing without making a sound. Before the second guard could react, Thor pressed a hand on his mouth and waited until Loki had sent him into unconsciousness too before he carefully laid him down on the floor.

“Two down, two to go”, Loki whispered.

Three minutes later they were down as well.

They hurried into the vault and down the stairs where the Casket was standing on its pedestal. Thor stopped and eyeballed it with a frown. “Are you sure about this, brother?”, he wanted to know.

“Why, you want to retract now?”, Loki answered in a sarcastic tone.

“Maybe”, Thor grumbled. “What are we even going to say. “We apologise for infiltrating your realm in the middle of the night, but –“”

“YOU won’t say anything. It worked so well the last time you had a conversation with their king.” Loki reached for the Casket but hesitated to grab it.

“At least I didn’t try to wipe out their entire race with the Bifrost.”

“No, but with your hammer. And now shut up!” He stared at the Casket, slowly moving his hands. He was afraid. Thor hadn’t seen him in his Jotun-form yet. What if it made him change his mind? What if he finally recognised Loki wasn’t his brother?

Thor seemed to feel Loki’s fear for he stepped closer and reached out for the Casket himself.

“No.” Loki let his hands dart forward and grabbed the handles of the Casket. “I will take it.”

The Thunderer nodded slowly as Loki stepped back with the item in his hands. His fingers began to turn blue. Loki took a shaking breath. He could feel it spreading through his palms, his wrists, creeping up on his arms. It felt like getting wet with cool water, but from the inside of the skin. He closed his eyes to not have to look at it and grit his teeth. It had reached his chest now, his collarbone, soon it would go for his face and then –

A warm hand nuzzled against Loki’s neck and he tensed in surprise. But then his whole tension fell, even that he had built up unknowingly, and he opened his eyes again. Thor was standing right in front of him, smiling softly. He looked straight into Loki’s red eyes. As if it were the most normal thing he had ever seen.

Loki swallowed. “I am ready”, he croaked. “Let us go.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Loki's Jotun-form is not hurting Thor because he doesn't want to. Remember when Laufey touches Odin's eyelids when he wants to kill him? Odin is not freezing either. So I assume that Frostgiants can choose whether to burn Aesir or not, it's like an attack or a weapon.


	26. Chapter 26

It was freezing cold. Loki felt it, even though his skin was blue. His body reacted to the Casket, but he still wasn’t a full Frostgiant. He wasn’t immune to the cold, he didn’t grow or become bald all of a sudden. It was no transformation, more like an adaption. Like pupils growing wider when it got dark.

The Casket worked just like the Tesseract and made it possible for Loki to teleport him and Thor right into Jotunheim, even without his magic. It was even darker than usual there and even colder and despite their warm clothing, they shivered slightly for a few minutes until they got used to the temperature.

“Where exactly are we?”, Thor asked.

“Just follow me”, Loki whispered back. He turned to his right and started walking off into the darkness. Thor followed right on his heels.

“What makes you sure they won’t kill us as soon as they see us…” Thor looked around suspiciously, Mjolnir ready in his hand.

“We have the Casket. They won’t kill us”, Loki replied. His eyes moved around nervously as well, but he kept on walking.

“ _You_ have the Casket”, Thor corrected him.

“Yes, that was my plan all along. To make you help me get the Casket and then let the Frostgiants kill you.”

Thor just snorted and stayed silent after that.

They walked for a while in the darkness, snow and ice cracking under their steps. Thor walked closer to Loki then and whispered to him: “They are watching us.”

Loki nodded slightly. “I know.”

Five minutes later they were surrounded. Red eyes, hardly visible in the dark, watched them from everywhere. Then a huge shadow came in sight in front of them and a Frostgiant stepped out of the night. “You are not welcome here”, he growled. “What do you want.”

“We wish to see your king”, Loki answered with a humble bow. “We have to talk to him in an urgent matter.”

“So urgent that it could not have waited until daylight?”, the Frostgiant droned.

“Unfortunately, yes.” Loki gave an excusing smile. “We have something that belongs to him. And we cannot let anyone but him see it.”

“The last time you were here”, the Jotun continued, “it resolved into war. If you came for that, we can kill you right here and spare you the effort.”

“We did not!” Loki shook his head. “We are here to negotiate.”

The Frostgiant seemed to be baffled at this. Then he turned suspicious. “Negotiate”, he repeated. “What could you want to negotiate about.”

“That is something we can only tell your king”, Loki sighed as if he was truly sorry. “Please take us to him. You can still kill us if the negotiation is not to his pleasing. There are only the two of us.”

He could feel Thor’s body tensing at his last words and he knew his brother was grabbing Mjolnir tighter. But he kept looking the Jotun in the eyes. His own Jotun-form wasn’t visible anymore, the Casket was tugged away in a cloth by now so it couldn’t touch Loki’s skin. Yet.

The Frostgiant seemed to think for a while. Then he snuffled and turned around, starting to stump back into the darkness. “Come”, they heard him say. “I will lead you to him.”

Thor and Loki exchanged a quick glance, then they followed the Jotuns to their palace.


	27. Chapter 27

The new king was smaller than Laufey had been. He also wasn’t as majestic or daunting. The thing that identified him as the new king right away, though, was some sort of crown out of jade that covered his head, looking like a chaplet out of green icicles. A huge scar going from the right of his forehead to the left of his chin disfigured his face. He looked dangerous, but his eyes glistened in a way that left no doubt he was quite intelligent too. That could be a good or a bad thing for their plan.

Loki bowed before him. “My king”, he said in the most humble tone Thor had ever heard. “It is my greatest pleasure to finally meet you face to face. I heard stories of-“

“Save this”, the king interrupted sharply. “I heard stories of you as well, Loki Silvertongue and you do not need to prove their accuracy to me. Just tell me what you want so we can get this over with as quickly as possible.”

Loki was surprised but didn’t let on about it. He just tilted his head and began speaking again: “Your majesty. We are here to negotiate.”

“I’ve been already told. Negotiate what? There is nothing Asgard could want from us. You already took everything from us we once had. And there is nothing Asgard would have to offer that we would crave for.”

Loki couldn’t suppress a little smirk. “Nothing?”, he asked. “Are you certain of that?”

The king’s eyes narrowed. They were more of an orange-red, a bit lighter than the usual tone the eyes of Frostgiants had. “What is it that you have?”, he wanted to know.

Loki reached under the cloth and took out the Casket. “I believe”, he said, “this originally belongs to you anyway.”

The Jotuns surrounding them immediately burst into buzzing excitement. They screamed and yelled and roared, some of them backed off, some of them darted forward. Loki stood still and held onto the Casket. If he wanted to he could disappear in one second. Thor knew that and had laid a hand on Loki’s shoulder. But the king remained in his seat. He had leaned forward, his eyes had grown wide. “This is impossible”, he whispered. “This cannot be.”

“It can”, Loki assured. “As you see right here. This is the Casket of Ancient Winters and we want to return it to you.”

At this, the Frostgiants fell silent again, staring at Loki in disbelief. What that little Aesir said couldn’t be the truth. And also he was turning blue. Looking like one of them.

The king seemed to omit this and just stared at the Casket. “You want to return this to us”, he repeated Loki’s words. “Why? The Allfather took it from us hundreds of years ago.”

“That is right. And now his son is here to return it to you.”

At this, the king finally looked up in Loki’s now red eyes. “His son and who else?”, he asked.

“Loki”, Loki said. “Son of Laufey, adopted son of Odin and brother of Thor Odinson. I do not belong here nor do I belong to Asgard. I am part of both realms and that is why I want peace between Jotunheim and Asgard. We have lived in war with each other long enough. Take the Casket as an offer and a promise to Jotunheim. We trust you to use it wisely by restoring your world Asgard once destroyed.”

“”We””, the Jotun-king huffed. “Who is “we”. You said yourself you did not belong to Asgard.”

“No. But I belong to some of its people. Thor is my brother, even though we are not of the same blood. Just as we all want Jotunheim and Asgard to be brothers now.”

“Do you. As far as I remember it was you who killed Laufey. Your own father.”

“The father I was stolen from by Odin. I did not know of my origin then. I was told later, yet I do not regret my deed. Laufey would never have agreed to peace with Asgard.”

“And why should I agree to that. Asgard tried to destroy us with the Bifrost!”

“And now Asgard is offering you the tool to repair your realm. Just as you are the new king of Jotunheim now, Thor will be the new king of Asgard very soon. It is time for a new beginning between our realms. We will try to learn from our ancestor’s faults and to do better.”

The king frowned, obviously not convinced by what Loki just said. So the God of Mischief continued: “I understand you are suspicious. But look at us. I am not armed. We are only two against this whole realm. And we bring you your strongest weapon. We are –“

“Is the Allfather aware of this?”, the king interrupted. “Does Odin know what you are doing? In the middle of the night?”

Loki paused for a bit, then he smiled. “No”, he answered. “The Allfather wanted to return the Casket here himself tomorrow. But we decided to forestall him. He is a good king, yet not so good at humbleness.”

“And what good is a negotiation not made by the king of Asgard himself?”

“It is the best negotiation we have to offer. The prince of Asgard himself and the child of Jotunheim’s and Asgard’s kings. You can take the Casket or you can refuse. It is your choice. It is the only time we will bring it here.”

The king looked at Loki for a long time. His face was serious, hard, unreadable. One order and the Frostgiants would attack the intruders. But he didn’t. He straightened up again, his mouth turning into a little smirk. “We will take it”, he said. “We accept your offer.”


	28. Chapter 28

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry there was no new chapter last week!  
> University is stressing me out so much lately >.

“Be aware that the Tesseract is back in Asgard”, Loki said before he handed over the Casket. “We are not defenceless should you decide to use the Casket for anything else than to rebuild your realm.”

“Ah, I see you trust us”, the king of Jotunheim said, still smirking a bit.

“We do enough to give you back the Casket”, Loki replied. “But not enough to be completely helpless against you or any other realm. We want to live together in respect, not in overreliance.”

“I still do not get your motives. But I shall not ask any further since it is to our advantage. Just be assured that this will not make us allies. We are simply taking back what belongs to us.”

“We still hope you value our attempt to forget the past and move on into a new future. There is no need of an alliance, but we hope we can count on you not to be our foes anymore.”

“We will see what the future brings.”

Thor frowned and hardened his grip on Loki’s shoulder, but the other didn’t let himself be distracted.

“Only good, I hope”, he answered back. “The last war between our realms was terrible enough.”

The king looked at him for a moment, then he replied: “I for myself hope this is not a trap you use to solve something with the Allfather.”

“Be assured that it is not.”

The Frostgiant nodded. “Then be assured we will not attack your realm as long as there is no need to.”

Thor’s hand relaxed a bit, but his grip still was fierce.

Loki tilted his head. “We thank you, My Lord.”

He held out his arms and the king quickly took the Casket from him. A shiver went through his whole body, his red eyes gleamed and the dark fog trapped in the Casket moved wildly. Thor could feel Loki shivering as well as the force of the Jotun magic left him and he returned to his normal appearance. Suddenly Loki was afraid. They were without protection now. If their plan didn’t work, the Frostgiants could kill them now without trouble.

But the king seemed to be too focussed on the Casket to even think about them anymore and the other Jotuns looked just as involved.

Loki looked at Thor and then nodded. He closed his eyes and concentrated. His magic should be back now, he should be able to open one of his passages and then- … He tensed. He couldn’t feel anything. He tried again, tried to find his magic, to reach for it, to get it to work, but nothing. There was no magic within him.

Thor noticed something was wrong and shook him slightly. His brother opened his eyes again and looked at him in panic, shaking his head. Thor understood and frowned. Before Loki could act, he turned to the Frostgiants.

“I humbly beg your pardon”, he said, tilting his head a little, “but we need to get back to our own realm now. Would it perhaps be possible to borrow the force of the Casket once again to open us the way?”

The king looked at him, the other Frostgiants becoming quiet again. He frowned. “As far as I know you are capable of travelling between the worlds on your own, Loki Liesmith.”

Loki looked helpless. “He is”, Thor said, maybe a bit too fast. “But it would take too long. And it would take much effort. Please, allow us to use the Casket for it.”

The king’s frown turned into a suspicious glare. Thor withstood it.

“Fine”, he growled after a moment. “I will send you back with its power. But this will be the only and last time I will allow this. And the only and last time I will allow any Asgardian to leave this realm after they entered it without permission.”

Thor nodded with a serious expression on his face.

“Take it as my thanks for the Casket. And let Odin not even be dared to come here.”

“He will not.”

“Good.”

The Jotun held out the Casket and Thor reached for it. He held onto his brother’s arm so that he would not stay behind. The king and Loki looked in each other’s eyes and for a brief moment the god feared that his opposite might actually betray him. That he might have found out that something was off, that Loki couldn’t use his magic, that they were defenceless right now. But then he felt his arm where Thor touched him tingle and prickle and something pull at his insides. And then he and Thor got sucked into the magic portal and teleported back to Asgard. Right in front of Odin and his men who awaited them.


	29. Chapter 29

Thor immediately stood in front of Loki to protect his brother, even though he knew what Loki had done was wrong. What he himself had done was wrong. But Odin only shook his head. “You have both betrayed me”, he said. “You have both disobeyed your king’s orders and you have both brought the whole of Asgard into danger. I will punish you for what you did, though I will not let anyone know what exactly happened. Only Heimdal, Frigga and I know, yet you will pay for it in the name of all Asgardians. But not now. Now I only require to talk to the one whose idea this all was. And I do know exactly who this is.”

He looked at Loki but his adopted son had lowered his head. Not guiltily, but troubled. He hadn’t even listened to what the Allfather had said.

“Father, let me speak”, Thor intervened. “What Loki did was –“

“I know very well what Loki did”, Odin interrupted. “But you should not think about what Loki did. You should rather be aware of what you yourself did. Now go. I will talk to you later.”

Thor looked at his brother, but Loki still just stared somewhere in front of him. So Thor nodded slowly and left. He knew that staying and trying to protect Loki would only infuriate the Allfather even more. And he had another thing to take care of.

“Escort him to the throneroom”, Odin said and the guards grabbed Loki’s arms. The black haired man didn’t protest as they took him with them, following the king who was walking ahead.

Odin sat on the throne as they arrived. Loki got guided in front of it and then the guards let go of him. With a nod from Odin, they left and soon Odin and Loki were alone. Finally Loki spoke.

“What did I do wrong”, he asked in a low voice. “Why is my magic not back.”

“What you did wrong?”, Odin asked in return. “Everything. You did everything wrong.”

“I didn’t!” Loki looked up now, his face a mask of anger and pain. “I acted selflessly! I gave them back their Casket to restore their dignity, their pride and honour! How was that wrong except for Asgard!”

“It was not selfless. It was feigned.”

“Feigned?! It was good for them! It was not good for me! So it was selfless! How can you dare to-“

“It was not! Selfless!”, Odin shouted. “You did this only for yourself! With the purpose to get your magic back! It was simply a trick, nothing more! You used them to get what you wanted, like you always do, Loki Liesmith, Trickster! It has nothing to do with selflessness! And therefore you are still not worthy to gain back your magic!”

Loki stared at him. Tears of desperation built up in his eyes and he clenched his jaw to keep them from flowing.

“You and Thor have disobeyed me again. I can not tolerate this. I will –“

“Only because you are a bad king!”, Loki suddenly shouted. “You know nothing but oppression! You oppressed me and you oppressed the Frostgiants! But I freed them! I freed them now! How is that selfish! HOW! TELL ME! HOW IS THAT SELFISH!”

The Allfather just looked at him, which made Loki even more furious. His tears streamed down his cheeks by now and he didn’t care anymore.

“I ONLY WANT TO SAVE HIM!”, he yelled. “I WANT TO SAVE ANTHONY! HOW CAN YOU PUNISH ME FOR THAT! HOW CAN YOU CALL ME SELFISH! IF YOU SEND HIM AWAY WITH THIS CURSE INSIDE, HE WILL DIE! I WANT TO UNDO IT! I WANT TO SAVE HIM! WHY WON’T YOU LET ME!”

He didn’t even think of the fact that Odin didn’t know about the curse or the relationship between him and Tony. He was simply despaired and he felt so weak. So defeated.

As Odin still didn’t answer, he screamed at the top of his lungs. So loud that his voice broke, that his vocal chords seemed to burn afterwards, that the sound echoed off the walls even seconds after he had stopped again.

“PLEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASE!!”, he shouted.

It was the last chance he had. Tony was everything now, Tony was his salvation. He had been the only one there for him when he had been at the bottom of his own self, he had believed in him even though they had been enemies. He had stayed instead of going back to his friends, his comrades, he had chosen Loki above them. In fact Tony was the only one putting Loki above ANYTHING and now he couldn’t save him. It felt like his heart was being crushed in a giant fist.

Odin finally stirred and straightened up in his throne. He almost seemed to smile a bit as he grabbed his sceptre tighter and looked down at Loki. He said –


	30. Chapter 30

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I never got so many awesome comments on a chapter, I think XD  
> You all hate me now? :D

Thor knocked on Loki’s door. He had to knock three times until Tony finally opened. He looked tired, as if he had slept bus his sleep hadn’t been the greatest anyway.

“What is it?”, he asked. “Loki is not here.”

“I know”, Thor said. “He is in trouble. We need to talk, Anthony.”

Tony looked worried. He stepped aside to let Thor into the room and closed the door as soon as the God of Thunder had entered. “What’s wrong?”, he wanted to know. “Where is he? Is he okay?”

“I fear not”, Thor growled. “He is not injured or dead, do not fear for him. Yet he is in a perilous situation. The Allfather talks to him right now. And I am afraid it will not end well.”

Tony frowned. “What happened?”

Thor looked at him for a moment as if he wasn’t sure whether to really tell Tony or not. But then he sighed and told him the whole story. How Loki had come to his chambers to ask for help, how they had been in Jotunheim with the Casket with the hope that it would make Loki worthy again, how they had returned it but Loki’s magic was not back. How Odin was very angry now and talked to Loki currently. And also about the curse. He left that for last, to maybe make it sound less bad after all the risks Loki had taken now to undo it again. Though it was nothing that could sound less bad in any way.

After he had finished he studied Tony closely. “If you still wish to help him after what I just told you”, he said cautiously, “I would be on your side. But I understand if you do not see any point in this anymore.”

Tony looked back at him and blinked. “What? You just told me he risked his life to save me.”

“Yes, but –“

“There is no but. I was his enemy when he did that. Or at least not his best friend. It was a clever move of him, actually.”

Thor stared at him, baffled.

“I don’t care what he did back then”, Tony explained. “He tries to save me now, that is what counts. Though of course I am not really happy to hear that I attract a huge badass freak now as soon as I leave Asgard. And I’m kinda miffed that he lost his shit about me going back to Midgard and leaving him here for my friends, instead of being worried that I might die as soon as I go. But well, I will certainly have a talk with him about that. But first we should maybe save his ass. And mine too.”

Thor smiled and patted Tony’s shoulder. “You truly are a man of honour, Anthony”, he said. “I am glad that Loki has you.” And then he placed his hand on the side of Tony’s neck. And without knowing why, Tony felt like he had achieved something.

“So”, he said with a little smirk. “How are we gonna beat that bastard out of there?”


	31. Chapter 31

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahaha, sorry :'D  
> Here you go now ^^"

He said: “What is it with the sudden obsession that my sons have with mortals?” He tilted his head. “Is there something about them that escapes me? Their short lives? Their fighting amongst each other? Their self-destructiveness? What is it about them that turned both of the princes of Asgard around in only a few days? Even to a point where the man that attempted to take over Midgard suddenly tries to save the life of one of its inhabitants? Explain it to me.”

Loki looked at him helplessly. He didn’t know whether to scream or to cry, to just turn around and leave or to stay and answer. He finally swallowed and did the last.

“It is his faith”, he said lowly. “Tony believes in me. No matter what I do. I may have gone wrong, many times, but Tony does not give up on me. He is not disappointed in me, he does not punish me, he does not judge. He is just there and tries to understand. That is more than any Asgardian has ever done.”

Expect for Frigga, Loki thought. But he knew that Odin understood what he meant.

His adoptive father looked at him seriously now, his eye wandering over Loki’s face and body. He didn’t say anything for a while. Before he could open his mouth again, the doors flew open and Thor rushed in. Tony was following him.

An anxious guard ran beside Thor, trying to tell him that the Allfather wasn’t allowing anyone in the throne room right now. But Thor obviously wasn’t paying attention.

“Father”, he said. “Let me speak. I know Loki has done wrong, but he did so for a reason. And before you convict him, I want you to know it. He – “

“I already know”, Odin interrupted. “And it is not your right to speak right now. I already made my decision.”

“But father –“

“Silence!” Odin hit Gungnir to the ground and Thor grit his teeth. He looked angry, but he didn’t speak anymore.

Tony looked over to Loki, but the god avoided his gaze. As Odin spoke, he looked at him instead.

“Come to me, Anthony Stark”, the Allfather said. Tony was unsure for a moment, but then he walked over to the throne. He walked up the stairs until he stood right in front of the king, looking him into the eye. The Allfather looked back at him, his expression unreadable. He studied him for a long time until he finally spoke again.

“I do not care for one mortal’s life”, Odin said, looking at Loki again. “Their lives are fleeting anyway. But the threat your curse is bringing to Midgard is serious. It is a tracking spell if I am correct. And it attracts a mighty foe. Midgard is not ready for it. And I will not let it get into harm’s way just because Loki got into trouble with someone he cannot defeat.” He looked at Tony again and suddenly raised his voice. “I declare”, he almost shouted, “that Loki hereby is worthy to retain his magic powers to take the curse off this mortal.”

Loki’s head shot up and he stared at Odin in disbelief. But Odin still looked at Tony, speaking more quietly again now. “And to make sure that he will not betray him”, he added, “I will bind his magic to the well-being of Anthony Stark, the man carrying the curse. As long as he is alive, Loki will be able to wield his magic. Should he die, it is again up to my adopted son to prove himself worthy, if he wants his magic back.”

Tony knew what Odin meant by that. Loki had to protect him now, until he died of a natural cause. And he had done that because he knew that Loki loved Tony. Odin had just given Loki redemption.


	32. Chapter 32

Tony didn’t get the chance to ask why. But Thor would be telling him later.

Odin gave the guard a nod and he took that as an order to guide Loki outside. Tony of course followed him quickly. Before he left the throne room, he looked back at Odin once more. But the Allfather was already occupied with talking to Thor. So Tony left and followed Loki.

The guard brought them to Loki’s room silently. They didn’t say a word. Even after the door closed and Loki and Tony were alone in the chambers, there was a long time of silence. Then, suddenly, Loki started to sob and then cry out loud and fell down to his knees. Tony was beside him in a second, cowering on the floor and wrapping his arms around the other.

“Ssssssssssh”, he tried to calm him softly. “Ssssh. It’s all good. I am here. We are here. We are still alive. It’s all good.”

Loki tried to say something, but he couldn’t. He was too agitated. He could only sob. He wasn’t even crying tears, he was just gasping for air, shivering and trembling heavily, and Tony had to hold him close for several minutes until he had calmed down again.

“It’s all good”, he repeated. “Everything is alright.”

“How”, Loki sobbed. “How can you still love me after what I did to you.”

“You did that before we fell in love, it’s fine.” Tony rubbed his back lovingly. “Though I WILL ask for a compensation later, be sure of that.”

Loki didn’t answer but slowly got up. Tony let go of him so his lover could do so. As Loki sat on the bed, Tony got up too and sat beside him, looking at the other.

“Are you better now?”, he asked. “Is everything okay?”

For the first time Loki looked at him then. He looked tired and exhausted, but there was also something more. Maybe relief? Tony couldn’t tell.

Loki leaned over and touched Tony’s lips with his own, but only softly, just noticeable. It lasted for a few seconds during which they both closed their eyes.

“Let us get this curse out of you”, Loki whispered as he withdrew. “After that everything will be alright again.”

 

~~~~~

 

In the throne room Thor stood before Odin with a frown.

“I do not understand”, he said. “Do not get me wrong, father, I am relieved about your decision. But I do not understand.”

“It is simple”, Odin answered, a little smile on his lips. “Loki is strong, I know that. And you and your mother are still on his side. As seems to be this mortal. He is friends with Midgard’s strongest warriors. By acting against Loki, I would have acted against all of you. Yet I need all of you, including your adopted brother, to fight the enemy he brought our way. Thanos WILL come and I need every man. This was the only way to make Loki loyal enough again to have him on our side. And who knows, maybe this man will actually work wonders on him.”


	33. Chapter 33

They lay beside each other on the bed afterwards. They were both too exhausted for anything else. The undoing of the curse had taken 20 minutes, it was far more complicated than just planting it inside. Loki had had to be careful not to hurt Tony. But he had succeeded and now the tracking spell was gone.

Tony had entwined their fingers and was swinging their hands up and down slightly while staring at the ceiling.

“So”, he said after quite a while. “Seems you need to take care of me now until I pass away by myself, huh.”

“No”, Loki replied.

“No?” Tony raised his brows and looked over to him. “Excuse you, that’s rude. Your father-“

“ _Odin_ ”, his lover corrected, “said my magic would die with you.”

“Only if I die of an unnatural cause.”

“Dying is always unnatural.”

“What? Since when?”

“You die because your body decays. That’s not how it should be. So I will simply make you immortal. That will be far more easy than to keep an eye on you all the time.”

Tony stared at him and then blinked a few times. “Immortal? What?”

Loki didn’t answer and simply kept staring at the ceiling.

“Shouldn’t you at least ask me before you decide something like that?”, the engineer asked.

“No”, was Loki’s reply again.

“What do you mean “no”! It’s me we are talking about here.”

“No. You are mine now.” The god tilted his head to look at Tony. “And I will not let you go. Simple as that.”

They looked at each other until Tony snorted. It was clear he was amused, though he sounded completely serious. “Am I. Wow. That’s prostitution, you know.”

“Not if we get married and I live at your tower. That was what you offered, remember?”

Tony laughed. “Ah, yeah, right, that I did. But still you could at least ask me before you turn me immortal, don’t you think?”

Loki hummed and squeezed his hand, looking at the ceiling again. Of course he didn’t ask. He was too afraid of the answer, Tony knew that. He had made this decision for Tony to not give him the choice to decline. That was how Loki worked.

“Alright then”, Tony sighed. “But I think we have another problem first, right?”

“Yes”, Loki answered lowly. “We need to get rid of Thanos.”

“We need to get rid of Thanos”, Tony repeated with a nod. “Yeah. And how are we gonna do that?”

The other sighed and closed his eyes. Tony also knew what this meant. It meant Loki had no idea.


	34. Chapter 34

To come up with an idea took Loki two days. He thought about it a lot, even though Tony did his best – not willingly, of course – to be a distraction. His body recovered quickly from the healing process of the curse and even though he tried to help Loki with planning he was only making it worse by keeping Loki from thinking himself. So the god finally got rid of him by shoving him over to Thor. After that he hid in his cave again and thought.

It was a dangerous plan, but the best one he could come up with. It was also the only one that made sure nobody except him would get hurt, neither Asgard nor Thor nor Tony. And that was most important. He needed to take care of Tony now and he wasn’t immortal yet. His immortality would be the next plan Loki would come up with. But for now he needed to save his beloved mortal from Thanos. And for that he needed Thor’s help once again.

At the end of the second day he knocked on his brother’s door. It was almost dinner time, which in Asgard meant: time for a huge, unnecessary feasting. So Thor was in the middle of changing. He opened the door in nothing but his leather trousers. As he saw his little brother he began to smile widely and pulled him into a hug.

“Loki!”, he thundered. “How good to see you here! Will you finally come feasting with us again? The others are already missing you and your wit at the table!”

Loki suppressed a smirk, because he knew what Thor meant by that. As soon as the others were drunk it was so much fun to play little tricks on them.

“No”, he replied nevertheless and freed himself of Thor’s arms. “Actually I need to talk to you about something. It is very important.”

Just like the last time, Thor frowned again but then nodded. “Alright”, he said. “Come in.”

And that Loki did. They sat down on the bed and the younger one told his older brother about his plan. His daring, desperate, dangerous plan that made Thor almost lose his temper again. But when Loki asked, he couldn’t come up with anything better either. He asked for one day to think it through anyway, even though Loki reminded him that Thanos would be on his way already. But by the end of the next day, the Trickster got a message from his brother. It read: “I am in. Meet you tonight. Thor.”

 

~~~~~

 

They met at their usual meeting place. It was in use for hundreds of years now. Every time they had had to plan something, do something, meet somewhere, they had done it here. It was their place. And it felt good to stand here again to concoct something again. Even though that something could easily kill one of them and got the other one punished.

Thor held up the box with the Tesseract. They would already have noticed that it was missing. They would be searching for it. The brothers didn’t have much time.

Loki took it from him without a word.

They looked at each other then, knowing what the other was thinking without saying it. They knew each other too well.

Thor smiled painfully and pulled Loki into a hug again. Loki didn’t hug him back, but he relaxed against the so familiar body and breathed in the scent of Thor’s hair. It smelt like honey.

“Be careful”, Thor whispered. “Take care of yourself. I will not survive losing my brother again.”

“Shut up, Thor”, Loki murmured back. “You got almost killed more often than me.”

The thundergod let go of him but placed his hand at his brother’s neck. This touch always calmed Loki down and he took a deep breath. After another moment he stepped back and turned around to leave.

“Thor”, he said before he left for good. “Please- …”

“I know”, Thor answered. “I will take care of him.”

Loki gave a small nod. Then he grabbed the box with the Tesseract tighter and hurried off. He heard some guards screaming in the distance, but they wouldn’t find him. He headed for one of his secret passages and vanished from Asgard into another realm.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Good news, folks!  
> I'm almost done with the fanfic, which means I will upload another chapter on Monday already! :)


	35. Chapter 35

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Unbetad, sorry.  
> Probably full of mistakes.  
> But earlier than usual! :)
> 
> There will be end notes that will contain spoilers, so don't read if you don't want to know!

At another place of the universe Thanos shuddered. “He has the Tesseract again”, he growled.

“The Tesseract?”, The Other asked. “How is that possible?”

“I do not know.” A terrible grin formed on Thanos’ face. “But he left Asgard together with it. He must be on the run. And we will find and get him there.”

 

~~~~~ 

 

Loki wasn’t on the run. He was heading to a very special location. A location where he knew Thanos would find him. He knew he couldn’t run away from him, Thanos would locate him anywhere. He needed to defeat him, once and for all. And he needed to be in advantage for this.

 

~~~~~

 

Thanos frowned and hissed.

“What is it?”, The Other wanted to know. “What is it, Mylord? Did he escape your glance?”

“No”, Thanos grunted. “Something was wrong with the Tesseract for a moment. Only a second. But now everything is as it should be again. The Asgardian has it and is on the run with it. And we will get him soon.”

 

~~~~~

 

Loki reached his desired location before Thanos did, so he waited. He stood there, the Tesseract in his hands and waited. He could feel Thanos being close to him already. And he was dying of fear. But he stood where he was, not moving an inch, and kept staring into the void until they would arrive. And then Thanos came.

 

~~~~~ 

 

Thanos hadn’t brought his army. But Loki knew it was only a stone’s throw away. This was personal, this was between Thanos and him, so Thanos wanted to take on him alone. But just in case, Loki was sure of this, he had his army at hand.

“Well, well, well”, Thanos said with a broad grin on his face. He stood only a few metres away from Loki, The Other behind him, ready to leap. “If this is not the little Asgardian that ran from me. I promised I would find you, did you forget?”

“I did not forget”, Loki answered. He smirked. “But you don’t have me yet.”

He raised the Tesseract and made an effort to activate it. This was the trickiest part of it all. Now everything could go wrong. But it didn’t.

Thanos’ eyes grew wide and he leapt forward. The Other tried to react as well and jumped at Loki, but Thanos was faster and got in the way. He grabbed Loki’s arm just as the Tesseract exploded with blue light and he got sucked away in another realm together with Loki. The Other was left behind, yelling after them. This part of the plan had worked. The most important part. Now came the part where Loki would probably die.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SPOILERS!!!
> 
> For all of you who fear:  
> Loki will NOT die.


	36. Chapter 36

He and Thanos landed in a place that was all black. There were no visible walls, no roof or floor, but it was tiny. One couldn’t see the walls, but they were there, tossing them back when they got too close. Even though everything was black it wasn’t dark. They had no trouble seeing each other.

Thanos stared at him. “All alone now, Asgardian?”, he growled. “Only you and me? Do you really think you have any advantage now?”

Loki panted a bit, but nodded. “Yes”, he said. “I in fact do think so.” He raised the Tesseract again, ready to activate it.

Thanos frowned. “You thought wrong.”

He was fast, faster than Loki could react. The room was too small, Thanos wasn’t standing far away from him. He raised his giant arm and smashed it against the Tesseract so that Loki had to let go. The blue cube flew away, hit one of the invisible walls and fell to the ground. Loki gasped at the pain in his hand.

“Do you really think”, Thanos screamed at him, “that a meagre Asgardian such as you could defeat me!”

He hit again, this time Loki’s face. Loki felt blood streaming out of his nose immediately as he groaned in pain and slumped down. For a moment he couldn’t see anything expect for white stars. Thanos was strong, so much stronger than him. He could easily beat him to death.

“I will kill you!”, Thanos stated. “You will not die of injuries or a broken neck! You will die of PAIN!”

He raised his arm again, but Loki saw that coming. He had already created an illusion of himself and escaped the spot he had been lying. As soon as Thanos’ hit landed, the illusion disappeared. He roared in anger and span around. He saw Loki crawling towards the Tesseract, his face twisted in agony, his hand reaching out for it, trembling. Thanos laughed and kicked him in the gut. Again white stars crossed Loki’s vision and he gasped, the pain too much to make a sound. He was sure some of his organs had been injured.

Thanos bent down and grabbed the Tesseract. He held it in front of his face and seemed to revel in the blue glow. “Aaah”, he sighed. “Is it not beautiful. This little object that will allow me to rule the whole galaxy.” He laughed darkly.

“No”, Loki managed to say through his pain. “You will not… rule… anything. You are… not able… to use… this…”

Thanos turned around and looked at him. “Am I not”, he bellowed. “We will see!”

He bent down again and grabbed Loki at his collar, heaving him up in the air. Loki struggled helplessly and grabbed Thanos’ hand to losen the grip, but of course he couldn’t. He was too weak.

“I will bring you back to Asgard with this”, Thanos hissed right in his face. “So that everyone will see how you’ll die. And then I will take over the Golden City. It will be the first realm to fall.”

Loki glared at him but couldn’t talk. Thanos’ fist was pressed against his throat. But then Thanos let go and Loki fell back to the ground. He whimpered in pain. Thanos put his foot on Loki’s chest to keep him down and took the Tesseract in both of his hands. He grinned down at Loki.

“Prepare to die now, traitor”, he said. Then he activated the Tesseract.


	37. Chapter 37

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter will have to wait til next week, cause I won't be here from thursday to monday!

Nothing happened. Thanos didn’t react to it and simply tried it again. But again nothing happened. He grunted and stared at it.

“What is this trickery!”, he yelled. “What did you do to this! This is not the Tesseract!”

He threw the cube down at Loki so that it hit the god’s face. It almost knocked Loki out. He wasn’t able to do anything for a couple of seconds but gasp. He felt the foot on his chest become heavier and press him down further. One of his rips broke.

“You are right”, he somehow groaned, close to fainting. “This is… not the Tesseract!”

He grabbed the blue cube and held it up. Ice shot out of it, right into Thanos’ face. The giant gave a muffled sound of surprise and stumbled back, his foot lifting from Loki’s chest. The Casket gave him strength so he was able to sit up, though his vision got dangerously blurry again. He kept the stream of ice pointed at Thanos. It covered him completely within seconds, just as it had back in days with Heimdall. As Loki was sure the other was unable to move, he let the stream die and sunk back, panting heavily. He felt numb all over his body, he wouldn’t be able to keep his consciousness for much longer.

“This”, he said, “is the Casket of Ancient Winters, you fool. I borrowed it from the Frostgiants in exchange of the Tesseract and covered it in an illusion. I changed its aura so you would track it down together with me. Only a Jotun is able to use it. And that you are not.”

He tightened his grip around the handles and took another shaky breath. “But I am!”

With this he activated the Casket again, just as the ice around Thanos began to crack. With his last power he teleported back to Asgard, hearing Thanos roar in frustration. But it was too late. There was no way out of this room of blackness, not without the Tesseract or another item that allowed teleportation, such as the Casket. Thanos was trapped in this tiny realm, until someone would free him from there. Which hopefully never would happen.

 


	38. Chapter 38

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took so long!  
> Here you go <3

As Loki woke up, Tony sat next to him. It took him a few seconds to get all of his senses together, but Tony simply waited. He looked around. He was lying in an Asgardian bed, not his own, as it seemed.

“Will they execute me”, he asked.

Tony shook his head. “No”, he replied. “They would have let you die on the spot if they had wanted to. You were close to dying anyway. They healed you.”

Loki nodded. “I-“

He coughed, his throat feeling too dry to talk. Tony handed him a glass of water.

“Thor told us about the plan”, he explained. “The guards got him right after he gave the Tesseract to you and brought them to Odin. They woke me up too, of course, in search for you. Thor told us you would offer the Tesseract to the Frostgiants so they would give you the Casket for a while. And that you would trap Thanos in another realm where he could never escape.” He looked at Loki. “That was smart. Even if he would have killed you there, he wouldn’t have been able to get out, right? Because he couldn’t use the Casket.”

Loki nodded. “Yes”, he croaked. “Yes, this was my plan. Only-“

“Only if someone else other than Thanos would have been sucked into this realm with you, you would have been in trouble”, Tony interrupted. “I know. Drink some more.”

Loki took another sip. “… I am sorry”, he said. “I-“

“Yes. You could have died. Actually it is a miracle that you didn’t. And you didn’t even say goodbye. You just left me here.”

Loki looked away. He felt horrible. The pain slowly crept back into his body. He was obviously not healed completely yet. But this time also his heart hurt. Even his soul.

“I am sorry”, he whispered again.

Tony didn’t reply. But a moment later Loki felt a soft kiss on his cheek. “Get well soon”, Tony said. “I will wait for you. You need some sleep. And the others want to talk to you too.” He got up and was about to leave.

“Tony!”, Loki yelled after him. The man turned around again.

“… Will they separate us? Will they lock me away? And Thor, is he-…?”

Tony smiled and shook his head. “All is well, Lokes”, he answered. “All is well. Now go to sleep. You need to heal or you won’t survive Thor’s huge hug when he sees you.”


	39. Chapter 39

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally a chapter again!   
> Sorry, first I was busy with Frostiron Month, now I am writing assignments D:

Loki fell asleep again after that. As he woke up he didn’t even know how long he had slept. He carefully sat up and as nothing hurt, he got out of the bed and searched for his clothes. They lay on a chair at the wall. The healers must have cared for his broken ribs and nose and his inner organs. Nothing felt injured anymore. Nevertheless he was very careful as he left the room and went searching for someone. Thor, Tony, his mother. It didn’t matter.

It was Thor he found first then. He was standing at one of the large windows, looking outside on the city. As he heard Loki approaching he turned around. His expression turned into a mixture of relief, sorrow, happiness and pain. He pulled his brother close into a warm hug. Loki hugged him back tightly. They stood like this for several minutes.

“I am sorry, brother”, Loki finally mumbled against Thor’s shoulder. “I am sorry I got you in trouble.”

“You did not”, Thor answered in his deep and calming voice. “You freed us all. Asgard is very thankful to you.”

“Did you tell them?”

“Of course I did.”

Loki took a moment and swallowed. “Well”, he then said, “they won’t be anymore soon. I am sure The Other and Thanos army will attack.”

“We can handle them”, Thor replied. “We are prepared and we fought battles in the past. Their army cannot be big, we just killed their Chitauri.”

“I hope so…”

Thor squeezed him softly to ease his sorrow. “I brought the Casket back”, he said after another moment. “The Frostgiants exchanged the Tesseract for it willingly, just as you said. It holds more power, but they cannot use it for their realm to recover. You were right, they need the Casket.”

Loki nodded but didn’t say anything. “What about Odin”, he finally asked. “Did he punish you? Will he punish me?”

His brother didn’t answer right away. “No”, he replied then. “He cannot. Not when Asgard cheers for you and your victory over Thanos.”

“Do they cheer?”, Loki snorted. “After they despised me so much as their king?”

“They did not despise you”, Thor corrected him. His voice contained a trace of pain. “Most of them do not even know what you did back then and what happened. They are happy to have both their princes back. And the ones who know are willing to accept your new path.”

“After you told them to, of course, and praised me to the skies.”

Thor chuckled. “Maybe.”

Loki sighed and withdrew from him. “Thank you, brother.” He looked at him. “I cannot thank you enough. You-“

“Do not thank me, Loki”, Thor smiled. “Or I would have to thank you too. And I bet you rather want to eat something. Or maybe see your lover.”

“Oh.” Loki smirked. “Yes. That both sounds truly good.”


	40. Chapter 40

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, not beta'd. But better than nothing, right?

Tony had almost _piled_ food on Loki’s bed. It had been a good choice to visit him first. He smiled at Loki, but not for long, as the god pulled him close immediately and crushed their lips together. Tony made a surprised sound, but then he settled with Loki’s tongue in his mouth and kissed him back.

“I’m sorry”, Loki mumbled in between kisses. “I am ever so sorry”

“Show me how much”, Tony replied. Since the bed was taken, they had sex on the floor.

 

~~~~~

 

“I think I dislocated my hip”, Tony whined and buried his face against Loki’s chest. The other man just laughed and gently ruffled his brown hair.

“I would not be surprised. Astonishing what a man your age is still capable of.”

“I beg your pardon! I am 43! That’s not old!”

Loki snickered and kept caressing Tony’s hair. “I will make sure you will not get much older than that.”

“What, you want to kill me?”

“No, make you immortal.”

“… Right, I forgot.” Tony raised his head to look at Loki. “You still want to do this?”

Loki hesitated for a moment. “Well, yes”, he said. “I do not want to lose my magic again just because your incompetent heart decides to stop beating in 40 to 50 meagre years.”

“Don’t blame that on my heart. It has a hard job.”

“By supplying your penis with blood all the time? Oh yes, I can agree to that.”

“No, I meant by loving you.”

Loki went silent at this and swallowed. Tony didn’t stop looking at him.

“You are still mad at me”, he stated after a while. “For leaving you here.”

“For leaving me here TWICE”, Tony corrected. “Without any hint where you had gone. To almost get yourself killed. Both times.”

“… I am sorry”, Loki whispered.

“Imagine I would have done this to you. You would rip my balls off. One for each time.”

The prince turned his head away. “It was necessary… I needed to do that to get my magic back and to save you…”

“I know. That’s why I am so forgiving.” Tony sat up and rubbed his own back. “Come on, eat something. You need to recover.”

“… That’s all?” Loki looked at him again. “That’s all you have to say to this?”

Tony seemed to think for a moment. “Yes”, he then answered. You killed me, you brought me back again. You cursed me, you healed me again. You love me, I love you. I think we’re even.”

“… What about the immortality?”

“We will talk about that later. First you will eat something and then we will go see your mother and afterwards your- … Odin. He wants to talk to you. Then I will go visit my friends on earth to show them I am alright. And then we will get the immortality-thing over with. Okay?”

Loki didn’t look happy, but he nodded. As Tony held out his hand, he grabbed it and sat up. “Would you hand me an apple, please?”, he asked.

“Ah, that’s one Brownie point on my ledger, then”, the man replied as he grabbed one. “Now you need to give me something in return so we are even again.”

Loki couldn’t help but smile and repaid his beloved mortal with a kiss.


	41. Chapter 41

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry it took so long...  
> I had- ... I don't even have an excuse ._.  
> Just sorry.  
> It's also unbeta'd, so probably full of mistakes.  
> Sorry again D:

The talk with Odin had been exhausting. He had wanted to go to Frigga first, but some guards had found him on the way and had brought him right to the throne room where the Allfather had been waiting. It had been a short conversation. It had just been Odin speaking and Loki listening to his punishment for what he had done. He had left the throne room with a big frown on his face.

Frigga had welcomed him with a warm and tight embrace, holding him as close as she had been doing when he had been brought back from Midgard. She had been whispering things while she had carressed his back, things like “I am so glad you are well”, “I was worried about you” and finally “I am so proud of you, Loki”. They had sat down together and Loki had told her what exactly had happened. Her hand had been lying on his arm the entire time, sometimes squeezing it softly when the story had become too exciting. Afterwards there had been a moment of silence until Loki had finally told her of his punishment. She had already known.

“You know why he did this, do you?”, she had asked.

“I guess so”, Loki had answered. “Although I did save Asgard from a great danger.”

“From a great danger that was chasing you, my dear.”

Loki had snorted but hadn’t replied. After another moment he had said: “You know that we won’t see in a while then, mother.”

Again she had nodded. “Yes, I do know that. Did he say for how long you will have to be down there?”

Her son had shaken his head. “No, he hasn’t”, he had replied. “I will just have to wait and see.”

“Does Tony already know?”

“… No”, Loki had answered after he had swallowed. “Thor does not either. I-… I do not know how they might react.”

“Both of them love you”, Frigga had said with smile, stroking Loki’s arm. “They will do their best to help you. Do not fear, Loki. You will not be alone.”

After that they had been silent for a while again and then had talked about some different matter until Frigga had finally thrown him out of her chambers to go and see Tony.

 

His mortal was sleeping on the bed as Loki entered. He hadn’t slept much during the time Loki had been healing. The god almost felt sorry for having to wake him. He sat beside him on the bed and watched him. There were already so many wrinkles on his face. But they suited him. As always he was fascinated by those incredibly long lashes that were best visible when his eyes were closed like now. They cast delicate shadows on his cheeks. His beard had grown a bit since he hadn’t been shaving here on Asgard. Loki reached out and softly ran his fingers over the hairs on Tony’s jaw. He hadn’t even noticed that a slight smile had occurred on his lips while watching him.

Tony opened his eyes and looked up at him, smiling sleepily. “Hey”, he muttered. “You’re back.”

“Yes, I am”, Loki confirmed.

Tony sat up and rubbed his eye. “What did they say?”

Loki didn’t know whether to smile assuringly or to look down and away. He still felt unsure. He didn’t know how Tony would react to this.

“I- … I am banished”, he finally answered. “Banished to earth. Like Thor was when he had done wrong. I am banished to earth with you until I have proven myself worthy again. So you are stuck with me for a while. You and all the others, that is. I hope they will not tear me apart. And I hope that you are alright with the fact that-“

He couldn’t speak any further. Tony’s reaction came right at this moment. It consisted of Tony grabbing Loki’s face and pulling him down in an exuberant kiss. Loki couldn’t do anything but returning it.


	42. Chapter 42

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last chapter! Finally up!  
> I'm so sorry it took so long DX  
> Ugh, I'm a horrible writer!  
> Anyway, thanks to anyone who read this fic, thanks for all the support, for every kudos, every review, it really meant and still means a lot to me!  
> *HUGS AND CUDDLES FOR EVERYONE*  
> I wish you all a super awesome christmas time!  
> I love you all <3
> 
> (Also this chapter will be damn cheesy, but I'm so not sorry)

They spent the rest of the day together. Only them, Tony and Loki, cuddled up together in bed. Naked, of course. But the sexual pleasure was only secondary. It was all about being close to each other, no matter how. Limbs wrapping around the other, skin touching skin, hands stroking the other’s body, lips kissing everywhere they could reach. They talked as well, with low voices, humming, whispering, laughing softly.

Tony took his time to reassure Loki he would be fine on earth, that he would defend him against anything and anyone, even the other Avengers. And Loki knew he wasn’t lying. Tony also promised him to let him live in his tower, his house in Malibu, his house in Dubai, wherever they wanted to go. Not only his house, but his room, his bed, his arms – here Loki had to giggle and shush him with a kiss. He had been afraid to come down to Midgard again because he knew the others saw him as an enemy, especially Hawkeye cause he had been using him. But Tony told him about the others and how they all didn’t get along at first either (Loki of course knew that already) but how they became good friends in the end. How no one of them really was a good guy, how each and everyone of them had fucked up something before. They only needed to be told the story of how Loki had saved Tony and after that basically the whole universe by risking his own life to trap Thanos in that little dimension. Because that was just as good a deed as any of the Avengers had been doing and no matter what Loki had done before, he had redeemed himself. Also there was not only Tony to take care of Loki, but also Thor who would of course come down with them to make sure Loki would be fine. And probably also to visit his Jane again. It seemed to be a thing for Asgardian princes now to get a mortal scientist.

They also talked about this mortality thing again and Tony promised he would consider it. Loki understood he had some issues with it, after all all of his friends would still be mortal, except for Thor. But if he wouldn’t want to be immortal, then maybe Loki would become mortal for him. They weren’t sure yet. But they still had time to think about it. So much time. Their relationship was still pretty young, so who knew what they would come up with. The only thing they were sure of was that they would stay together somehow. They could make it. They were superheroes after all.

As the light began to fade outside and the night came, they wrapped their arms around each other and Loki used his magic to build them a big, comfy tent out of his covers and blankets that was surrounding them like a nest. It felt warm and safe and just perfect and they held each other close. They thought about how every evening would be like this now, cradling the other in their arms and fall asleep to their heartbeat, their breath, letting the other’s warmth lull them to sleep. And how they would wake up next to each other again, the smile of their partner being the first thing in the morning to see.

“I love you”, Tony whispered against Loki’s skin. “I know that’s too soon, but-“

“No”, Loki interrupted and pulled him closer. “No, it isn’t. It is perfectly on time. Don’t you dare to take it back now.”

Tony chuckled and kissed him with those sweet, soft lips that tasted like home.

“Okay”, he said, snuggling back into Loki’s arms. “Won’t take it back.”

He yawned and closed his eyes, mumbling something that Loki couldn’t understand anymore. He stroked Tony’s hair and let the other fall asleep against his chest, enjoying the warm breath ghosting over his exposed skin. He had never felt so fully content in his entire life.

He buried his face in Tony’s hair and breathed in his mortal’s scent as he closed his eyes.

“I love you too, Tony”, he whispered against the engineer’s head.

Tony smiled in his sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> PS: Of course Tony will become immortal for his Loki ;)
> 
> Thanks again to everyone who left me kudos or reviews, you're all darlings <3


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